Adjacent Words

Liability definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LIABIL'ITY, n.
1. The state of being bound or obliged in law or justice; responsibility. The officer wishes to discharge himself from his liability.
2. Exposedness; tendency; a state of being subject; as the liableness of a man to contract disease in an infected room; a liability to accidents.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the state of being legally obliged and responsible
2: an obligation to pay money to another party [syn: indebtedness, liability, financial obligation]
3: the quality of being something that holds you back [ant: asset, plus]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Date: 1705 1. a. the quality or state of being liable b. probability 2. something for which one is liable; especially pecuniary obligation ; debt — usually used in plural 3. one that acts as a disadvantage ; drawback

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 the state of being liable. 2 a person or thing that is troublesome as an unwelcome responsibility; a handicap. 3 what a person is liable for, esp. (in pl.) debts or pecuniary obligations.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Liability Li`a*bil"i*ty (l[imac]`[.a]*b[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]), n.; pl. Liabilities (-t[i^]z). 1. The state of being liable; as, the liability of an insurer; liability to accidents; liability to the law. 2. That which one is under obligation to pay, or for which one is liable. Specifically, in the pl., the sum of one's pecuniary obligations; -- opposed to assets. Limited liability. See Limited company, under Limited.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(liabilities) 1. If you say that someone or something is a liability, you mean that they cause a lot of problems or embarrassment. As the president's prestige continues to fall, they're clearly beginning to consider him a liability. ...what was once a vote catching policy, is now a political liability. N-COUNT: usu sing 2. A company's or organization's liabilities are the sums of money which it owes. (BUSINESS or LEGAL) The company had assets of $138 million and liabilities of $120.5 million. ? asset N-COUNT: usu pl 3. see also liable

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Responsibility, accountableness, accountability, bounden duty. 2. Exposedness.

Moby Thesaurus

a thing for, accountability, accountableness, accounts payable, accounts receivable, affinity, amenability, amount due, answerability, answerableness, aptitude, aptness, arrearage, arrears, bad debts, barrier, bent, bias, bill, bills, borrowing, burden, cast, chance, charges, chits, conatus, conduciveness, damage, debit, debt, dedication to duty, defenselessness, delight, detriment, devotion to duty, diathesis, disadvantage, disposition, drawback, due, dues, duteousness, dutifulness, eagerness, encumbrance, expectation, exposure, fair expectation, favorable prospect, feeling for, financial commitment, floating debt, funded debt, good chance, handicap, harm, helplessness, hindrance, hitch, hurt, impairment, impediment, inclination, incumbency, indebtedness, indebtment, injury, leaning, likelihood, likeliness, liking, loss, loss of ground, maturity, mischief, nakedness, national debt, nonimmunity, obligation, obstacle, obstruction, odds, onus, openness, outlook, outstanding debt, penchant, pledge, predilection, predisposition, prejudice, presumption, presumptive evidence, probabilism, probability, proclivity, proneness, propensity, prospect, public debt, readiness, reasonable ground, reasonable hope, responsibility, responsibleness, score, sense of duty, sense of obligation, sensitivity to, snag, soft spot, step backward, susceptibility, tendency, tropism, turn, twist, uncollectibles, unfulfilled pledge, verisimilitude, vulnerability, warp, weakness, well-grounded hope, willingness