ascription of responsibility

/əˈskrɪpʃən əv rɪˌspɒnsəˈbɪləti/

noun phrase

  1. The act of assigning or attributing responsibility for an action, event, task, or outcome to a person or organization.

    C1

    usually uncountable; ascription of responsibility to someone for somethingformal

    • "The ascription of responsibility for the project's failure was unclear."B2
    • "The ascription of responsibility is often difficult when several groups contributed to the outcome."C1
    • "In a team, the ascription of responsibility can sometimes lead to disputes."B2
    • "Political debates frequently center on the ascription of responsibility for complex social problems."C2

Common mistakes

  • ascription of responsibility of the company→ascription of responsibility to the company

    Use “to” for the person or organization considered responsible and “for” for the action or result.

Collocations

ascription of responsibility to someoneascription of responsibility for an actionclear ascription of responsibilityindividual ascription of responsibility

Word family

ascribeascriptionresponsibleresponsibility