Topic Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus

Duty

Nouns
  • duty, what ought to be done, moral obligation, accountableness, liability, onus, responsibility
  • bounden duty, imperative duty
  • call, call of duty
  • accountability. allegiance, fealty, tie engagement etc. (promise) Promise
  • part
  • function, calling etc. (business) Business. morality, morals, decalogue
  • case of conscience
  • conscientiousness etc. (probity) Probity
  • conscience, inward monitor, still small voice within, sense of duty, tender conscience, superego
  • the hell within [Paradise Lost]. dueness etc. Dueness
  • propriety, fitness, seemliness, amenability, decorum, to prepon
  • the thing, the proper thing
  • the right thing to do, the proper thing to do. [Science of morals] ethics, ethology.
  • deontology, aretology
  • moral philosophy, ethical philosophy
  • casuistry, polity. observance, fulfillment, discharge, performance, acquittal, satisfaction, redemption
  • good behavior.
Verbs
  • be the duty of
  • be incumbent etc. adj.. on, be responsible etc. adj.
  • behoove, become, befit, beseem
  • belong to, pertain to
  • fall to one's lot
  • devolve on
  • lie upon, lie on one's head, lie at one's door
  • rest with, rest on the shoulders of. take upon oneself etc. (promise) Promise
  • be bound to, become bound to, be sponsor for, become sponsor for
  • incur a responsibility etc. n.
  • be under an obligation, stand under an obligation, lie under an obligation
  • have to answer for, owe to it oneself. impose a duty, c. n.
  • enjoin, require, exact
  • bind, bind over
  • saddle with, prescribe, assign, call upon, look to, oblige. enter upon a duty, perform a duty, observe a duty, fulfill a duty, discharge a duty, adhere to a duty, acquit oneself of a duty, satisfy a duty, enter upon an obligation, perform an obligation, observe an obligation, fulfill an obligation, discharge an obligation, adhere to an obligation, acquit oneself of an obligation, satisfy an obligation
  • act one's part, redeem one's pledge, do justice to, be at one's post
  • do duty
  • do one's duty etc. (be virtuous) Virtue. be on one's good behavior, mind one's P's and Q's.
Adjectives
  • obligatory, binding
  • imperative, peremptory
  • stringent etc. (severe) Severity
  • behooving etc. v.
  • incumbent on, chargeable on
  • under obligation
  • obliged by, bound by, tied by
  • saddled with. due to, beholden to, bound to, indebted to
  • tied down
  • compromised etc. (promised) Promise
  • in duty bound. amenable, liable, accountable, responsible, answerable. right, meet etc. (due) Dueness
  • moral, ethical, casuistical, conscientious, ethological.
Adverbs
  • with a safe conscience, as in duty, bound, on one's own responsibility, at one's own risk
Phrases
  • simple duty bath no place for fear" [Whittier]
  • stern daughter of the voice of God" [Wordsworth]
  • there is a higher law than the Constitution" [Wm. Seward].