liability

liability
    n 1: the state of being legally obliged and responsible
    2: an obligation to pay money to another party [syn:
       {indebtedness}, {liability}, {financial obligation}]
    3: the quality of being something that holds you back [ant:
       {asset}, {plus}]
    

Liability \Li`a*bil"i*ty\ (l[imac]`[.a]*b[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]), n.;
   pl. {Liabilities} (-t[i^]z).
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The state of being liable; as, the liability of an
      insurer; liability to accidents; liability to the law.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which one is under obligation to pay, or for which
      one is liable. Specifically, in the pl., the sum of one's
      pecuniary obligations; -- opposed to {assets}.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Limited liability}. See {Limited company}, under {Limited}.
      [1913 Webster]
    

LIABILITY. Responsibility; the state of one who is bound in law and justice 
to do something which may be enforced by action. This liability may arise 
from contracts either express or implied, or in consequence of torts 
committed. 
     2. The liabilities of one man are not in general transferred to his 
representative's further than to reach the estate in his hands. For example, 
an executor is not responsible for the liabilities of his testator further 
than the estate of the testator which has come to his hands. See Hamm. on 
Part. 169, 170. 
     3. The husband is liable for his wife's contracts made dum sola, and 
for those made during coverture for necessaries, and for torts committed 
either while she was sole or since her marriage with him; but this liability 
continues only during the coverture; as to her torts, or even her contracts 
made before marriage; for the latter, however, she may be sued as her 
executor or administrator, when she assumes that character. 
     4. A master is liable for the acts of his servant while in his employ, 
performed in the usual course of his business, upon the presumption that 
they have been authorized by him; but he is responsible only in a civil 
point of view and not criminally, unless the acts have been actually 
authorized by him. See Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.; Driver; Quasi Offence; 
Servant. 
    

126 Moby Thesaurus words for "liability":
      a thing for, accountability, accountableness, accounts payable,
      accounts receivable, affinity, amenability, amount due,
      answerability, answerableness, aptitude, aptness, arrearage,
      arrears, bad debts, barrier, bent, bias, bill, bills, borrowing,
      burden, cast, chance, charges, chits, conatus, conduciveness,
      damage, debit, debt, dedication to duty, defenselessness, delight,
      detriment, devotion to duty, diathesis, disadvantage, disposition,
      drawback, due, dues, duteousness, dutifulness, eagerness,
      encumbrance, expectation, exposure, fair expectation,
      favorable prospect, feeling for, financial commitment,
      floating debt, funded debt, good chance, handicap, harm,
      helplessness, hindrance, hitch, hurt, impairment, impediment,
      inclination, incumbency, indebtedness, indebtment, injury, leaning,
      likelihood, likeliness, liking, loss, loss of ground, maturity,
      mischief, nakedness, national debt, nonimmunity, obligation,
      obstacle, obstruction, odds, onus, openness, outlook,
      outstanding debt, penchant, pledge, predilection, predisposition,
      prejudice, presumption, presumptive evidence, probabilism,
      probability, proclivity, proneness, propensity, prospect,
      public debt, readiness, reasonable ground, reasonable hope,
      responsibility, responsibleness, score, sense of duty,
      sense of obligation, sensitivity to, snag, soft spot,
      step backward, susceptibility, tendency, tropism, turn, twist,
      uncollectibles, unfulfilled pledge, verisimilitude, vulnerability,
      warp, weakness, well-grounded hope, willingness