bear responsibility vs shoulder responsibility

Both "bear responsibility" and "shoulder responsibility" are correct phrases that are commonly used in English. They both mean to accept or take on the responsibility for something. The choice between them depends on personal preference or the context in which they are used.

Last updated: April 09, 2024 • 120 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to mean accepting or taking on responsibility for something.

"bear responsibility"

This phrase is used when someone is willing to accept the consequences or obligations related to a particular task or situation.

Examples:

As the team leader, you must bear responsibility for the project's success.
He decided to bear responsibility for the mistake and apologized to his colleagues.
It is important to bear responsibility for your actions.

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Anyone who owns property can bear responsibility.
In my opinion every one of us should bear responsibility for financing the EU.
Like Augustine, Aquinas asserted that humans bear responsibility for evil owing to their abuse of free will.
whereas not only women but men too bear responsibility for preventing unwanted pregnancies,
It is true that employers bear responsibility for illegal employment.
We have before us a document which places an obligation on all those who bear responsibility for Europe.
Mrs Roth-Behrendt, Mrs Ries and others bear responsibility for another six months' delay, having rejected the report back in September.
Nevertheless, it is the Member States which bear responsibility for carrying out their obligations and assuming the financial implications of their decisions.
We need the legislative means to tackle similar situations, and I also firmly believe that if anyone commits a similar transgression he should bear responsibility for his behaviour.
Dame Sarah and the Lib Dems can cry crocodile tears now over cases like Mr Symeou, but they have to bear responsibility for the human misery which they have caused.
I alone bear responsibility for this disastrous campaign.
They alone can bear responsibility... who own property...
I'll bear responsibility alone for this before Wellington.
But you bear responsibility for having given misleading information.
I alone bear responsibility for this disastrous campaign.
He has learned well to bear responsibility.
On the other, we bear responsibility for the community in which we live.
You bear responsibility for whether it goes right or wrong.
I will bear responsibility for it.
Various actors bear responsibility in plundering Eastern DRC's natural wealth to the detriment of the population.

Alternatives:

take responsibility
assume responsibility
accept responsibility
carry responsibility
shoulder the responsibility

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to mean taking on or accepting responsibility for something.

"shoulder responsibility"

This phrase is used when someone is ready to bear the burden of responsibility or duty in a particular situation.

Examples:

She is always willing to shoulder responsibility in challenging situations.
It's important for a leader to shoulder responsibility for the team's performance.
He decided to shoulder responsibility for the failure of the project.

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And for solidarity to be concrete, it must mean that all Member States shoulder responsibility for the displaced people who are fleeing Libya towards Europe.
Condemns the fact that inhabitants still do not have access to anything near their daily requirements in clean water while lawyers continue debating who should shoulder responsibility for those affected by the disaster;
We must shoulder responsibility for closing the development gap.
Human activities are having a growing impact on the integrity of natural ecoystems, and there is consequently a need to shoulder responsibility for protecting and conserving them.
First of all, we must shoulder responsibility for our own European fleet and work towards establishing a global agreement.
Do you really find it so hard to shoulder responsibility in front of your voters?
These are our principles: take action instead of sitting it out, solve problems instead of administering them, develop independent initiative instead of 'waiting and seeing', shoulder responsibility instead of apportioning blame, strike out in new directions instead of keeping to well-worn paths.
Mr President, we evidently need major disasters to illustrate how much a too fragmented Europe is still failing in its ability to shoulder responsibility.
The working paper says the main objective of the Congress is to "animate the life of particular Churches in America so that from their evangelising experience they may shoulder responsibility for concrete commitment to mission ad gentes.".
Economic agents must continue to shoulder responsibility for food safety, ensure traceability of food and food ingredients and must put in place product withdrawal procedures in case of food emergencies.
Calls on the Member States to make better use of the national instruments they have for job creation and social policy and not to make the European Union shoulder responsibility for their failures;
Growing numbers arise to shoulder responsibility, swelling the ranks of those who serve as tutors, animators, and teachers of children; who administer and coordinate; or who otherwise labour in support of the work.
President-in-Office, if there is one area in which people in Europe want the European Union to shoulder responsibility, it is the area of illegal immigration and immigration policy as a whole.
The lesson is that the forests cannot become either a resource for the wood industry or a natural park from which man is completely excluded: man has to become both the promoter and user of forests but, above all, shoulder responsibility for the survival of forests.
This, indeed, is precisely the reason why the Commission has taken the initiative to shoulder responsibility at least for our own fleet.
Parliament condemns the fact that inhabitants still do not have access to anything near their daily requirements in clean water while lawyers continue debating who should shoulder responsibility for those affected by the disaster.
However, let it be clear that the European Union cannot shoulder responsibility for building up the Ukrainian state and helping that country in its socio-economic development on its own, or even take the lead in doing so.

Alternatives:

bear responsibility
take responsibility
assume responsibility
accept responsibility
carry responsibility

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