liability

1.liabilities.
moneys owed; debts or pecuniary obligations (opposed to assets ).
Accounting. liabilities as detailed on a balance sheet, especially in relation to assets and capital.
2.something disadvantageous:
His lack of education is his biggest liability.
3.Also, liableness. the state or quality of being liable:
liability to disease.

Origin of liability

First recorded in 1785-95; li(able) + -ability
Related forms Expand
nonliability, noun, plural nonliabilities.
preliability, noun, plural preliabilities.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2017.
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Examples from the Web for liability Expand

Contemporary Examples
In the end, the army concluded that Mubarak was a liability.

The Real Loser in Egypt's Uprising
Bruce Riedel
February 12, 2011
Thus the transaction was all geared to assuming a specific layer of liability, avoiding an open-ended assumption.

Where Buffett Has His Money Now
Scott Horton
November 18, 2008
And when the government publishes financial statements, it is this debt that is recorded as a liability of the federal government.

The U.S. Government Doesn’t Really Owe $16 Trillion in Debt
Matthew Zeitlin
September 4, 2012

British Dictionary definitions for liability Expand

liability
/ˌlaɪəˈbɪlɪtɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
the state of being liable
2.
a financial obligation
3.
a hindrance or disadvantage
4.
likelihood or probability
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word Origin and History for liability Expand
n.
1790, originally a term in law; "condition of being legally liable;" see liable + -ity. General sense is from 1809; meaning "thing for which one is liable" is first attested 1842. Related: Liabilities.

liability in Culture Expand

liability definition

An obligation or debt.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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