Meaning & use
account for
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
To give a satisfactory explanation or reason for something.
Grammar: The object comes after for: account for the delay, not account the delay for.
Patterns
- account for something
- account for a change
- account for someone's behavior
Can you account for the sudden rise in energy use?
The witness could not account for her movements that evening.
Better insulation accounts for the lower heating bill.
verbtransitive
To make up a particular part, share, or amount of a total.
Grammar: Often used with percentages, fractions, or amounts of a whole.
Patterns
- account for a percentage of something
- account for half of something
- account for most of something
Women account for 52 percent of new enrollees.
Imports account for two thirds of the store's inventory.
Small donations accounted for most of the fundraiser's total.
verbtransitiveformal
To answer for or take responsibility for actions or results.
Grammar: Formal; common in questions about where someone was or what happened.
Patterns
- account for someone's whereabouts
- account for actions
- account for the outcome
The captain must account for every passenger after docking.
Employees are asked to account for company equipment.
No one has accounted for the missing samples.
verbtransitivemilitaryinformal
To deal with, capture, or destroy so that a target no longer threatens.
Grammar: Military or informal use; the object is a person, unit, or threat.
Patterns
- account for enemy troops
- account for a target
The patrol accounted for the sniper position before dawn.
Two drones were accounted for during the exercise.
Word forms
| third person singular | accounts for |
|---|---|
| past tense | accounted for |
| past participle | accounted for |
| -ing form | accounting for |
Common combinations
- account for the difference
- A late shipment can account for the difference between the estimates.
- account for a share of sales
- Online orders now account for a larger share of sales.
- account for every expense
- Keep receipts so you can account for every expense.
- account for someone's whereabouts
- The lawyer asked him to account for his client's whereabouts.
Synonyms and how they differ
- explain
- Explain fits reasons and causes, but account for can also state a proportion of a total.
- represent
- Represent fits the share use: women represent 40 percent; it does not fit explaining a cause as directly.
- constitute
- Constitute means form or make up, especially in formal proportions, but not explain reasons.
- answer for
- Answer for means take responsibility; it overlaps the formal responsibility sense only.
Word family
- account verb
- Base form of the phrasal verb account for.
- accounting noun
- The process or profession of financial record-keeping.
- accountant noun
- A person trained in accounts.
- accountability noun
- Responsibility to explain actions.
Commonly confused: account for or count for? account for or account?
account for vs count for
Count for means have value or importance; account for means explain or make up a share.
account for vs account
Account alone can be a noun record or base verb; account for is the phrasal pattern.
Practice
The extra costs ___ higher fuel prices, not careless planning.
Choose one answer.
Account for correctly introduces an explanation: the costs are explained by fuel prices. Count for means be worth, while account to/with do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “account for”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.