duty
pronunciation
How to pronounce duty in British English:
UK [ˈdjuːti]
How to pronounce duty in American English:
US [ˈduːti]
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- Noun:
- work that you are obliged to perform for moral or legal reasons
- the social force that binds you to your obligations and the courses of action demanded by that force
- a government tax on imports or exports
Word Origin
- duty
- duty: [13] Duty comes from Anglo-Norman dueté. This was a derivative of Old French deu ‘owed’ (source of English due [13]), which in turn came from Latin dēbitus, past participle of dēbēre ‘owe’ and source of English debit and debt. (Latin dēbēre was originally a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and habēre ‘have’, literally ‘have away’, that is ‘keep in one’s possession what belongs to someone else’.) So etymologically one’s duty is what one ‘owes’ to others.=> debit, debt, due
- duty (n.)
- late 13c., from Anglo-French duete, from Old French deu "due, owed; proper, just," from Vulgar Latin *debutus, from Latin debitus, past participle of debere "to owe" (see debt). Related: Duties. The sense of "tax or fee on imports, exports, etc." is from late 15c.; duty-free as a noun is attested from 1958.
Synonym
Example
- 1. Nor did governments rush to proclaim their educational duty .
- 2. Stamp duty bump to cool hong kong housing ?
- 3. Participant : is it your civic duty to serve ?
- 4. Her duty was done for another season , her obligations met .
- 5. And duty is likely to rise again in the march budget .