Word for "someone with no responsibilities assigned to them"?

Question

Concept

What is the word for someone who has no responsibility? I am meaning a situation where someone lacks anything to be responsible for.

Adjusting Google/Oxfords' meaning of "responsibility" to try and make the concept more clear: The state or fact of having no duty to deal with anything or of having no control over anyone.

Specifically, I am looking for an adjective that describes a person. Like responsibility, it should reflect one's duty or state, not one's desire. But unlike responsibility, it should not imply a moral obligation nor a lack thereof.

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Example Usage

Example sentences using a phrase:

• "The baby, previously lacking anything to be responsible for, finally set their heart on locomotion: the art of flailing limbs and sliding belly to move across the plush carpet.
• "His body finally able to rest, the industrial man becomes the man that now lacks anything to be responsible for."

With a made up word "aresponsible":

• "The once aresponsible baby finally set their heart on locomotion: the art of flailing limbs and sliding belly to move across the plush carpet."
• "His body finally able to rest, the industrial man becomes the aresponsible man."

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Antonyms Tried

While checking Cambridge's Thesaurus for antonyms "be responsible for" gave no results, "be responsible" only gave the word "innocent". Innocent seems to mean a lack of knowledge or a state of being wrongfully accused. Innocent does not convey my idea properly. A lack of responsibilities can be known or not known and has nothing to do with accusations.

Another common suggestion is "irresponsible", from wiktionary.org's antonym list for example, but it comes with the assumption that responsibility is being neglected or there is a lack of ability to handle responsibility. Someone without responsibility could very well be aware and capable of it, but not have any and may never be obligated, expected, or assigned any in the future. This does not mean they are an irresponsible person.

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I will try to source to the best of my ability:

(Wikitionary 8/13/2021)

(Original Google/Oxfords' definition of responsibility, "The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone." 8/13/2021)

Answer 1

carefree

ADJECTIVE
Free from anxiety or responsibility.
‘the carefree days of summer’ Lexico

carefreeness

The trait of being without worry or responsibility vocabulary.com

But for most of us carefree living is taking no responsibilities and an escape from the world itself. ref.

Childhood is idealized as a carefree period—no responsibilities, no worries about calories. ref.

She had been eighteen, no age at all really, but though they had both been delighted at the thought of parenthood, carefreeness had flown out the window. ref.

You could refer to a carefree state/existence, or the state/condition of being carefree if that works better than carefreeness.

Answer 2

For completeness, a very specific term in government is: minister without portfolio.

Most government ministers have responsibility for a government ministry or department or other office (known as their ‘portfolio’).  But a politician can be given a ministerial salary and participation in cabinet meetings and decisions without that specific responsibility, by appointing them minister without portfolio.  This may be because they hold a non-government position (such as party chairman), or have an area of responsibility not aligned with the existing structures, or simply because the head of government values their participation at that level.

Answer 3

I'd go for "footloose". It literally means "unshackled", but - according to Etymonline.com - it has meant "free to act as one pleases" since 1873.

If that feels a bit informal, you might try "unengaged". It can mean "currently without a job", though (on the downside) it could also suggest "detached" in a disparaging sense.

Yes, it's interesting, isn't it? I kept feeling that the answer to your question was obvious, that it was on the tip of my tongue; but nothing really satisfying ever arrived. It definitely feels like we should have a word for it, but even a word like "insouciant", which literally means what you're asking for, has taken on that rather dismissive feeling, as if to describe someone as being "without responsibilities" is a criticism.

Answer 4

Floater

As in, somebody within an organization who does not have a fixed assignment. Rather, their skills are deployed as and where they are needed (e.g. paraprofessional aides who move between classrooms).

Answer 5

Unaccountable 2. (of a person, organization, or institution) not required or expected to justify actions or decisions; not responsible for results or consequences.

"there are enormous risks in leaving such agencies uncontrolled and unaccountable"

(definition from Google)

Unburdened, Unencumbered or unfettered first came to mind, but I feel like these words imply a being released from some obligation.

Thank you for the interesting question!

Answer 6

Elements of Innocent

1. a pure, guileless, or naive person. "a young innocent abroad"
2. a person involved by chance in a situation, especially a victim of crime or war. "they are prepared to kill or maim innocents in pursuit of a cause"

Answer 7

At leisure

From MacMillan, at leisure: free to do what you want.

Answer 8

Supernumerary

One definition is "Not wanted or needed; redundant".

For example (Cambridge dictionary, quoting Hansard) "The view is also held in certain places that there is a large number of supernumeraries in the administration who ought not to be there at all.

Answer 9

Merriam-Webster gives:

sinecurist (noun): one who has a sinecure

Where sinecure is:

sinecure (noun): an office or position that requires little or no work and that usually provides an income

Answer 10

Spare resources.

In a business context, employees and their time are resources. Often, businesses don't want 100% resource utilization, since that doesn't give any slack in case someone gets sick, goes on vacation, or is otherwise unavailable. As such, the employees who don't have any tasks currently assigned to them can be said to be spare resources.

Of course, this is a noun phrase, not an adjective that describes a noun. "Bob is sick today. What spare resources do we have?"

Answer 11

Not in charge.

Person who isn't in charge for something ( responsible ) isn't irresponsible, but rather not assigned to the duty.

Answer 12

Drone

Merriam Webster second definition " one that lives on the labors of others : PARASITE"

Based on bees, the drones are male bees who do not gather nectar but are there purely to mate Wikipedia Drone(bee)

As used by P G Wodehouse in the Jeeves and Wooster books to describe the wealthy young men who did not work but lived off inherited money.

For OP's second example - "His body finally able to rest, the industrial man becomes a drone"