0

I am confused about the usages of "duty" and "obligation"

It seems that I could write:

He failed in his duty to lead the team.

as standard English. Could I then write this also:

He failed in his obligation to lead the team.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Good question. I think "duty" usually implies a sort of moral imperative A duty is something that affects you inwardly. Although the team looked up to him as a leader, he failed in his duty to lead the team.

"Obligation" usually implies a legal or rule-based imperative. It is the result of some kind of external constraint. Although his contract stated that he was the team leader, he failed in his obligation to lead the team.

Improve this answer
3
  • So, "he failed in his obligation to lead the team" is indisputable standard English, even thought I cannot find it in dictionaries?
    – meatie
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 4:44
  • @meatie obligation is in the dictionary: A social, legal, or moral requirement, duty, contract, or promise that compels someone to follow or avoid a particular course of action.
    – Jim
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 5:30
  • 1
    Dictionaries don't have combinations of words, they just have single words. Google ngrams can be used to look at the frequency of usage of word combinations: books.google.com/ngrams/…
    – Jim
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 5:34

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .