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

He argues that the same three East Asian secrets account for these cases of rapid growth.

From The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. equity market accounts for almost two-thirds of the world’s total capitalization, but the U.S. weighting is just 40%.

From MarketWatch

To account for this, Tye and his collaborators proposed a hypothetical particle with extremely low mass.

From Science Daily

Remittances account for roughly a third of Nepal's GDP.

From Barron's

It accounts for more than 200,000 jobs and has colonized entire neighborhoods.

From Barron's