Not showing proper care for the consequences of one's actions or decisions. Lacking accountability or reliability in behavior.
Prefix 'ir-' (not) + 'responsible', from Latin 'respondere' meaning 'to answer' or 'pledge in return'. The concept of responsibility as answering for one's actions developed in legal contexts before becoming moral.
The Latin root 'respondere' reveals that responsibility originally meant being able to give an answer when questioned. An irresponsible person, literally, is someone who cannot or will not respond to justify their actions - they've broken the social contract of accountability.
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