duty
/ˈdjuːti
/noun (plural duties)
1A moral or legal obligation; a responsibility: it’s my duty to uphold the law she was determined to do her duty as a citizen [mass noun]: a strong sense of duty...
- It's to do my duty as a physician, and they often have disagreeable outcomes when you do your duty, and this is one very disagreeable outcome.
- To the last minute of my holding the presidency, I will responsibly do my duty.
- They have to do their duty and their responsibility.
Synonyms
responsibility, obligation, commitment, obedience, allegiance, loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity, respect, deference, reverence, homage
historical fealty
1.1 [as modifier] (Of a visit or other undertaking) done from a sense of moral obligation rather than for pleasure: a fifteen-minute duty visit...
- Let the occasional duty visits be brief and bearable.
2 (often duties) A task or action that one is required to perform as part of one’s job: the queen’s official duties your duties will include operating the switchboard [mass noun]: Juliet reported for duty...
- How do you know the staff who arrive at camp are qualified to perform the duties you are requiring of them?
- Boys and girls were trained for the separate duties and tasks required in the gendered world of their day.
- Officers chosen to conduct the battalion's tactical planning need to have the proper training and experience in order to perform their required duties.
Synonyms
job, task, chore, assignment, commission, mission, function, charge, part, place, role, concern, requirement, responsibility, obligation;
work, burden, onus
British informal pigeon
dated office
2.1 [mass noun] Military service: combat duty in the army...
- The primary service was military duty as a mounted knight.
- Why should ordinary Koreans pay taxes for those shirkers who educate their children abroad and avoid military service duties?
- The other recurring problem is the avoidance of military service by privileged youth during peacetime and combat duty during wars.
2.2 [as modifier] (Of a person) engaged in their regular work: a duty nurse...
- On both nights the duty nurse was based on the unit, but on both nights their duties took them to the residential units and those for elderly and mentally ill patients for considerable periods.
- Patients will have to call the surgery after 8.30 am and leave a contact number as well as a time when the duty nurse can call to discuss the problem.
- Eventually, my mom hired a private duty nurse, whom my grandma promptly fired.
2.3 [mass noun] (also duties) Performance of prescribed church services by a priest or minister: he was willing to take Sunday duties...
- As much as $10,000 of the budgets could be used to help the church pay for pastoral duties during its pastor's absence.
- For now, she continues with her ministerial duties, serving the church she sees as part of her family.
- It is not uncommon for a minister to drive 6-10,000 miles per year in carrying out the ministerial duties for a congregation.
3A payment levied on the import, export, manufacture, or sale of goods: a 6 per cent duty on imports [mass noun]: goods subject to excise duty...
- These include priority treatment in obtaining basic infrastructure services and significant reductions in national and local income taxes, land fees, and import and export duties.
- Getting the manufacturing association to back a duty on low-priced Chinese imports was a victory for small manufacturers.
- Many governments put tariffs on the import of goods, whether stated as an import duty or a sales tax only on imported goods.
3.1British A payment levied on the transfer of property, for licences, and for the legal recognition of documents.Strip the Church of its tax exemption and levy huge duties against its property value....
- We have a budget lower than ten years ago, with the Government continuing to impose additional duties and not properly finance them.
- Licence duties tend to have very small disincentive effects on car ownership due to their relatively low level (they are primarily put in place by governments to raise revenue).
Synonyms
tax, levy, tariff, excise, toll, fee, imposition, impost, exaction, tithe, payment, rate;
customs, dues
rare mulct
4 technical The measure of an engine’s effectiveness in units of work done per unit of fuel.
Phrases
do duty as (or for)
on (or off) duty
Origin
Late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French duete, from Old French deu (see due).