MEANING
To avoid dealing with a problem or responsibility by making someone else handle it.
Use it for
criticizing evasion of responsibility; describing blame being shifted; showing an official refusing to make a decision; distinguishing avoidance from legitimate delegationIdentifies responsibility being shifted away from the person who should address a problem. Writing functions: Avoidance of responsibility.
Words that belong together
- pass the buck to another department
- stop passing the buck
On the page
Each agency passed the buck until the family gave up asking for help.
The report asks managers to own the decision instead of passing the buck to junior staff.
Word forms
- Base
- pass the buck
Usage notes
Verbal idiom: pass/passes/passed/passing the buck; often pass the buck to someone. Buck stays singular. Register: informal. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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