accountability
Americannoun
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the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.
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Education. a policy of holding schools and teachers accountable for students' academic progress by linking such progress with funding for salaries, maintenance, etc.
Usage
What does accountability mean? Accountability is the obligation to explain, justify, and take responsibility for one's actions.Accountability is the state of being accountable, meaning responsible for something or obligated to answer to someone, such as a person with more authority, like a boss.The word accountability is often used in the context of individuals, especially in the term personal accountability. It is also commonly used in the context of institutions or people that are responsible to the public, such as the government, its agencies, politicians, and the media. Accountability is often discussed with transparency and consequences. This typically involves keeping people and organizations accountable by making their actions visible and having consequences when those actions are not acceptable.Example: The system of checks and balances is intended to ensure accountability among the different branches of government.
Other Word Forms
- nonaccountability noun
Etymology
Origin of accountability
First recorded in 1785–95; account(able) + -ability
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A person who was seen distributing fliers demanding an independent investigation and government accountability was detained by national-security police on Saturday, and has since been released on bail, the rights group said.
Thousands have laid flowers and paid their respects over a three-day mourning period, with some of the notes left at the site calling for accountability.
From Barron's
"If the monarchy is really to modernise in a significant way, we need to see much more transparency, much more accountability," she argues.
From BBC
Thousands massed in the Philippine capital on Sunday demanding accountability over a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure scandal that has seen scores of officials, lawmakers and construction firm owners accused of corruption.
From Barron's
Not long before he was reportedly detained, Miles Kwan approached commuters outside a Hong Kong train station, urging them to demand accountability for the deadly inferno that tore through nearby apartment blocks.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
