liability

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The state of being liable.
2. n. Something for which one is liable; an obligation, responsibility, or debt.
3. n. The financial obligations entered in the balance sheet of a business enterprise.
4. n. Something that holds one back; a handicap.
5. n. Likelihood.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The state of being liable through obligation orduty; fixed or contingent responsibility; exposure to that which is or may be required: as, the liability of a principal for his agent's acts. In this sense, in law, it is sometimes used as including, and sometimes as excluding, contingent demands and unliquidated damages.
2. n. The state of being liable incidentally or by chance; exposure to that which is possible or probable; tendency; susceptibility: as, liability to accident or contagion; a physician's liability to broken rest.
3. n. That for which one is liable; that to which one is bound or exposed; a fixed or contingent obligation: as, to incur or assume a heavy liability (as for the payment of a debt or the performance of a service); the assets and liabilities of a bank.

Wiktionary

1. n. the condition of being liable
2. n. an obligation, debt or responsibility owed to someone.
3. n. a handicap that holds one back
4. n. the likelihood of something happening

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The state of being liable
2. n. That which one is under obligation to pay, or for which one is liable. the sum of one's pecuniary obligations; -- opposed to assets.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the quality of being something that holds you back
2. n. the state of being legally obliged and responsible
3. n. an obligation to pay money to another party