[General] to be duty bound/to have a duty

[kompstar]

Hello,

Are the sentences below correct and natural? Do they mean the same?

I.
1. Local officials are duty bound to serve the community.
2. Local officials have a duty to serve the community.

II.
1. We are duty bound to justify how we spend our funds.
2. We have a duty to justify how we spend our funds.

 

[teechar]

1. Local officials are duty-bound to serve the community.
2. Local officials have a duty to serve the community.

II.
1. We are duty-bound to justify how we spend our funds.
2. We have a duty to justify how we spend our funds.

Note the hyphen!
Otherwise, your sentence pairs are correct and they do mean the same thing.

 

[kompstar]

Thank you. But there is no hyphen in Cambridge Dictionaries Online - http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/duty. Why?

I'm also wondering if "duty-bound" is an adjective?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes — 'duty-bound' is an adjective.

Click here to find many dictionaries which prefer the hyphenated version.

 

[kompstar]

I think without the hyphen my sentences also correct. Am I right?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes.