Learn English – Word for “someone with no responsibilities assigned to them”

single-word-requests

Concept

What is the word for someone who has no responsibility? I am meaning a situation where someone lacks anything to be responsible for.

Adjusting Google/Oxfords' meaning of "responsibility" to try and make the concept more clear:
The state or fact of having no duty to deal with anything or of having no control over anyone.

Specifically, I am looking for an adjective that describes a person. Like responsibility, it should reflect one's duty or state, not one's desire. But unlike responsibility, it should not imply a moral obligation nor a lack thereof.

Example Usage

Example sentences using a phrase:

  • "The baby, previously lacking anything to be responsible for, finally set their heart on locomotion: the art of flailing limbs and sliding belly to move across the plush carpet.
  • "His body finally able to rest, the industrial man becomes the man that now lacks anything to be responsible for."

With a made up word "aresponsible":

  • "The once aresponsible baby finally set their heart on locomotion: the art of flailing limbs and sliding belly to move across the plush carpet."
  • "His body finally able to rest, the industrial man becomes the aresponsible man."

Antonyms Tried

While checking Cambridge's Thesaurus for antonyms "be responsible for" gave no results, "be responsible" only gave the word "innocent". Innocent seems to mean a lack of knowledge or a state of being wrongfully accused. Innocent does not convey my idea properly. A lack of responsibilities can be known or not known and has nothing to do with accusations.

Another common suggestion is "irresponsible", from wiktionary.org's antonym list for example, but it comes with the assumption that responsibility is being neglected or there is a lack of ability to handle responsibility. Someone without responsibility could very well be aware and capable of it, but not have any and may never be obligated, expected, or assigned any in the future. This does not mean they are an irresponsible person.

I will try to source to the best of my ability:

(Wikitionary 8/13/2021)

(Original Google/Oxfords' definition of responsibility, "The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone." 8/13/2021)

Best Answer

carefree

ADJECTIVE
Free from anxiety or responsibility.
‘the carefree days of summer’ Lexico

carefreeness

The trait of being without worry or responsibility vocabulary.com

But for most of us carefree living is taking no responsibilities and an escape from the world itself. ref.

Childhood is idealized as a carefree period—no responsibilities, no worries about calories. ref.

She had been eighteen, no age at all really, but though they had both been delighted at the thought of parenthood, carefreeness had flown out the window. ref.

You could refer to a carefree state/existence, or the state/condition of being carefree if that works better than carefreeness.

Related Topic