Meaning & use
accountability
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
The obligation to accept responsibility for actions and explain or justify results to others.
Grammar: Commonly with for and to: accountability for spending, accountability to voters; no plural in ordinary use.
Patterns
- accountability for something
- accountability to someone
- public accountability
- hold someone accountable
The report called for greater accountability for public spending.
Elected officials owe accountability to the people they serve.
Clear deadlines improve accountability in a team.
Common combinations
- public accountability
- The agency strengthened public accountability by publishing its data.
- accountability for spending
- Managers must show accountability for spending on every project.
- accountability to voters
- Regular elections create accountability to voters.
- lack of accountability
- The audit revealed a dangerous lack of accountability.
- ensure accountability
- Independent reviews help ensure accountability after failures.
Synonyms and how they differ
- responsibility
- Broader duty for a task; accountability stresses that someone must answer for the outcome.
- answerability
- Formal and less common; close to accountability but usually narrower than full responsibility.
- liability
- Often legal or financial exposure to blame or cost; accountability includes explaining conduct, not only paying.
Opposites
Word family
- accountable adjective
- Required to explain actions or results, as in accountable to the board.
- account verb
- Formal verb meaning to explain or justify, as in account for the delay.
- account noun
- A record, report, explanation, or arrangement connected with tracking and responsibility.
Commonly confused: accountability or responsibility? accountability or accountancy?
accountability vs responsibility
Responsibility can mean a duty you carry out; accountability means others can require you to explain the result.
accountability vs accountancy
Accountancy is the profession of recording and checking finances; accountability is the duty to answer for actions.
Practice
The charity promised greater accountability ___ its donors and ___ how funds are used.
Choose one answer.
Accountability is to people or bodies and for actions, money, or results. Option 1 has the standard to/for pattern; option 2 reverses the expected targets, and with/about or of/from do not fit the fixed pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “accountability”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.