account for

British  

verb

1. to give reasons for (an event, act, etc)

2. to make or provide a reckoning of (expenditure, payments, etc)

3. to be responsible for destroying, killing, or putting (people, aircraft, etc) out of action

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account for Idioms  

1. Be the determining factor in; cause. For example, The heat wave accounts for all this food spoilage , or Icy roads account for the increase in accidents .

2. Explain or justify, as in Jane was upset because her son couldn't account for the three hours between his last class and his arrival at home . Both of these related usages are derived from the literal meaning of the phrase, that is, “make a reckoning of an account.” [Second half of 1700s]

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Example Sentences

At current levels, Oracle’s core software business accounts for the company’s entire valuation at 18x earnings, Luria wrote, meaning that Oracle Cloud Infrastructure “represents pure upside at this point.”

From MarketWatch

The plant is expected to eventually account for about 100 metric tons of gallium, or 10% of global gallium demand, according to Alcoa.

From The Wall Street Journal

After accounting for other stroke risk factors such as smoking, physical activity, and high blood pressure, the differences remained significant.

From Science Daily

Of course, these projections assume steady average returns and do not account for sequence-of-returns risk, the risk that market downturns occur early in retirement, or just before.

From MarketWatch

From this revised framework, he introduces a "correction tensor" -- a mathematical tool that accounts for drag and resistance acting on particles of any shape, including spheres and thin discs.

From Science Daily