irresponsible

English

Etymology

From ir- +‎ responsible.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪrɪˈspɒnsəbl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪrəˈspɑnsɪbəl/

Adjective

irresponsible (comparative more irresponsible, superlative most irresponsible)

1. (now rare) Not responsible; exempt from legal responsibility, not to be held accountable.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford 2009, p. 28:

     They left the crown what, in the eye and estimation of law, it had ever been, perfectly irresponsible.

2. Lacking a sense of responsibility; performed or acting as though without responsibility; negligent.
   • 2020 August 12, Ye Ling, “Popular Children’s Books Purged as ‘Inappropriate’”, in Bitter Winter‎^[1]:

     An Wulin, a critic and children’s literature writer, believes that it’s irresponsible to dismiss a book based on one or two details.

Translations

not responsible; not subject to responsibility

• Bikol Central: urag-uragon
• Bulgarian: не носещ отговорност (ne nosešt otgovornost)
• Catalan: irresponsable
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不負責任的 (bù fù zérèn de), 不负责任的 (bù fù zérèn de)

• Finnish: viaton (fi), syytön (fi), ei vastuussa
• French: irresponsable (fr)
• German: nicht verantwortlich (de)

• Greek: ανεύθυνος (el) (anéfthynos)
• Irish: neamhfhreagrach
• Italian: irresponsabile (it)
• Portuguese: irresponsável (pt)
• Russian: не несу́щий отве́тственности (ne nesúščij otvétstvennosti)
• Spanish: irresponsable (es)
• Swedish: oansvarig (sv)
• Turkish: mesul (tr)/sorumlu (tr) olmayan (tr)

lacking a sense of responsibility

• Armenian: անպատասխանատու (hy) (anpatasxanatu)
• Belarusian: безадка́зны (bjezadkázny), безадпавяда́льны (bjezadpavjadálʹny)
• Bulgarian: безотговорен (bg) (bezotgovoren)
• Catalan: irresponsable
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不負責的 (bù fù zérèn de), 不负责任的 (bù fù zérèn de)

• Czech: nezodpovědný, neodpovědný
• Dutch: onverantwoordelijk (nl)
• French: irresponsable (fr)
• Galician: irresponsable (gl)
• German: verantwortungslos (de), unverantwortlich
• Greek: ανεύθυνος (el) (anéfthynos)
• Hungarian: felelőtlen (hu)
• Italian: irresponsabile (it)

• Japanese: 無責任な (ja) (むせきにんな, musekinin na)
• Korean: 무책임하다 (ko) (muchaegimhada), 책임이 없는 (chaegimi eomneun)
• Latvian: bezatbildīgs
• Macedonian: неодговорен (neodgovoren)
• Maori: hurori, mākahi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ansvarsløs (no)

• Polish: nieodpowiedzialny (pl), lekkomyślny (pl)
• Portuguese: irresponsável (pt)
• Romanian: iresponsabil (ro)
• Russian: безотве́тственный (ru) (bezotvétstvennyj)
• Spanish: irresponsable (es)
• Swedish: ansvarslös (sv), oansvarig (sv)
• Turkish: mesuliyetsiz (tr), sorumsuz (tr)
• Ukrainian: безвідповіда́льний (uk) (bezvidpovidálʹnyj)

Noun

irresponsible (plural irresponsibles)

1. Someone who is not responsible.

References

• irresponsible in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• irresponsible in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

See also

• unresponsive