account

American  

[uh-kaunt] / əˈkaʊnt /

noun

• accounts
  plural

1. 

   an oral or written description of particular events or situations; narrative.

   an account of the meetings;

   an account of the trip.

   Synonyms:

   chronicle, report

2. an explanatory statement of conduct, as to a superior.

   Synonyms:

   justification

3. a statement of reasons, causes, etc., explaining some event.

4. reason; basis.

   On this account I'm refusing your offer.

5. importance; worth; value; consequence.

   things of no account.

   Synonyms:

   significance, import

6. estimation; judgment.

   In his account it was an excellent piece of work.

   Synonyms:

   consideration

7. an amount of money deposited with a bank, as in a checking or savings account.

   My account is now with Third National.

8. Also called charge account. an accommodation or service extended by a business to a customer or client permitting the charging of goods or services, the returning for credit of unsatisfactory merchandise, etc..

   Do you have an account at this store?

   My account with the restaurant is past due.

9. a statement of financial transactions.

10. Bookkeeping.

    1. a formal record of the debits and credits relating to the person, business, etc., named at the head of the ledger account.

    2. a balance of a specified period's receipts and expenditures.

11. Commerce.

    1. a business relation in which credit is used.

    2. any customer or client, especially one carried on a regular credit basis.

    3. Also called advertising account. the business assigned to an advertising agency by a client.

       The toothpaste account was awarded to a new agency last year.

12. Digital Technology. an electronic identity, as a username and its associated data, assigned to an individual or group for secure, personalized access to a website, network, digital service, etc.: Your email account has been hacked!

    I don’t access my work account from my home computer.

    Your email account has been hacked!

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verb (used without object)

• accounts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• accounted,
  past participle,  past
• accounting
  present participle

1. to give an explanation (usually followed byfor ).

   to account for the accident.

2. to answer concerning one's conduct, duties, etc. (usually followed byfor ).

   to account for the missing documents.

3. to provide a report on money received, kept, and spent.

4. to cause (usually followed byfor ).

   The humidity accounts for our discomfort.

   His reckless driving accounted for the accident.

verb (used with object)

• accounts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• accounted,
  past participle,  past
• accounting
  present participle

1. to regard; consider as.

   I account myself well paid.

2. to assign or impute (usually followed byto ).

   the many virtues accounted to him.

idioms

1. on no account, under no circumstances; absolutely not.

   On no account should you buy that painting without having it appraised.

2. give a good / bad account of, to do something or conduct oneself in a good (bad, etc.) manner.

   She gave a good account of herself in the tennis tournament.

3. take account of, Also take into account.

   1. to make allowance for; consider.

      One must take account of the difficult circumstances. Taking account of the high overhead, the price is not excessive.

   2. to notice or observe.

4. on account, as an installment or a partial payment.

   I can't pay the balance, but here's $10 on account.

5. on all accounts, in any case; under any circumstances. Also at all accounts.

6. hold to account, to hold responsible; hold accountable or culpable.

   If any of the silver is missing, I'm going to hold you to account.

7. on account of,

   1. by reason of; because of.

   2. for the sake of.

      She saw it through on account of me.

8. call to account,

   1. to hold accountable; blame; reprimand.

      Call them to account for having endangered their lives.

   2. ask for an explanation of.

9. turn to account, to derive profit or use from; turn to advantage.

   She has turned her misfortunes to account.

account British  

/ əˈkaʊnt /

noun

1. a verbal or written report, description, or narration of some occurrence, event, etc

2. an explanation of conduct, esp one made to someone in authority

3. ground; basis; consideration (often in the phrases on this ( that, every, no, etc) account , on account of )

4. importance, consequence, or value

   of little account

5. assessment; judgment

6. profit or advantage

   to turn an idea to account

7. part or behalf (only in the phrase on one's or someone's account )

8. finance

   1. a business relationship between a bank, department store, stockbroker, etc, and a depositor, customer, or client permitting the latter certain banking or credit services

   2. the sum of money deposited at a bank

   3. the amount of credit available to the holder of an account

   4. a record of these

9. a statement of monetary transactions with the resulting balance

10. (on the London Stock Exchange) the period, ordinarily of a fortnight's duration, in which transactions formerly took place and at the end of which settlements were made

11. accounting a chronological list of debits and credits relating to a specified asset, liability, expense, or income of a business and forming part of the ledger

12. 1. a regular client or customer, esp a firm that purchases commodities on credit

    2. an area of business assigned to another

       they transferred their publicity account to a new agent

13. 1. to insist on explanation

    2. to rebuke; reprimand

    3. to hold responsible

14. to perform badly

    he gave a bad account of himself in the examination

15. to perform well

16. 1. on credit

    2. Also: to account. as partial payment

17. (preposition) because of; by reason of

18. to take into consideration; allow for

19. 1. to pay or receive a balance due

    2. to get revenge on (someone)

20. See bank account credit account

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verb

1. (tr) to consider or reckon

   he accounts himself poor

account More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing account

• all present and accounted for
• by all accounts
• call to account
• give a good account
• no accounting for tastes
• on account of
• on no account
• on one's own account
• take account of
• take into account
• turn to good account

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Usage

What does account mean? An account is a description of an event, either written or spoken, as in When Josh came home late, his parents demanded an account of where he had been. To account means to tell given an explanation of, as you might do in telling a story of events. An account is also a file, profile, or log associated with a business, service, or bank used to keep track of personal information and transactions. To gain access to most social media sites, you have to give the site some basic information, like your name and email address. With this information, the site creates an account for you, giving you access. To account can mean to give an explanation of one’s actions, as in Martina needed to account for her missing homework to avoid getting a zero. Example: According to your account of the evening, you were never near the scene of the crime.

Synonym Usage

See narrative.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subaccount
  noun
• preaccount
  verb
• unaccounted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• accounts
  plural

Participles

• accounting
  present
• accounted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• account
  simple
• accounts
  simple
• have accounted
  perfect
• has accounted
  perfect
• am accounting
  progressive
• are accounting
  progressive
• is accounting
  progressive
• have been accounting
  perfect progressive
• has been accounting
  perfect progressive

Past

• accounted
  simple
• had accounted
  perfect
• was accounting
  progressive
• were accounting
  progressive
• had been accounting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will account
  simple
• will have accounted
  perfect
• will be accounting
  progressive
• will have been accounting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of account

First recorded in 1225–75; (noun) Middle English a(c)ount(e), ac(c)ompte, from Anglo-French, Old French aco(u)nte, acompte; (verb) Middle English ac(co)unten, from Old French acunter, acompter. See ac-, count ¹

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Explanation

An account can be many things — such as a story, like if you give a friend an account of what happened at the party she missed. It can also be a business arrangement, like a bank account or an email account. Account is one of those seemingly simple words that have a mass of different meanings. An account can be a narrative or story — a biography, for example, is an account of someone's life. Account can also mean an explanation of something, as in the phrase, "How do you account for that?" An account is also a handy arrangement whereby a store agrees to provide you goods on credit, but then you might have to account for all that debt.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

account accounts accounted accounting

The review will look at whether existing laws sufficiently protect victims and hold perpetrators to account, as well as if legislation adequately addresses emerging forms of stalking, including online abuse and technology-enabled behaviours.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

The stolen data did not include Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, financial account information, credit or debit card information or account passwords.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

HSA owners can invest account funds prior to withdrawing them, and nearly five million accounts do so.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

What begins as an honest account of modern life’s bleak state is distorted alongside Berlant’s malleable expressions, slowly blossoming into something life-affirming, like a diamond among the rubble.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

I have been in a state of terrible feeling since this entire account began.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

A California e-commerce platform is fueling the rise of live shopping in the United States, taking on giants such as TikTok and tackling concerns that the app is draining people’s bank accounts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

HSA owners can invest account funds prior to withdrawing them, and nearly five million accounts do so.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Neighbors did not identify the shooter by name, but recognized him from images posted to the social media accounts of his mother, Shauntai Nickerson.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

It began with small accounts on social media speculating or claiming that Talarico was out not because he was physically ill but because he was mentally ill.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

He was, by all accounts, terrible at the job.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

In September, individual investors and second-home buyers accounted for 20% of home-purchase transactions — the highest share in a little over a year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026

Such theft accounted for billions of dollars, Aurangzeb said, adding that there remained "room for improvement" on increasing income tax collection as well.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

Foreign grants accounted for roughly a quarter of its general-budget revenue in the first eight months of 2026.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Instead, one particular form accounted for most of the rise.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026

Whatever accounted for the unnatural stasis that had kept her a child for fifteen years, it was beyond the reach of reason or persuasion.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Notably, the relationship between earlier fitness and later artery health remained significant even after accounting for several established cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, smoking, and blood pressure.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026

Eritreans were the most common nationality among small boats migrants in the 12 months to June - accounting for 18% of arrivals, external, according to figures from the House of Commons Library.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

An accounting professor uses Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” to teach students how ethical compromises lead to corporate fraud.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Europe’s space economy has taken off, with companies in the region raising $6.3 billion in the third quarter, accounting for 28% of total global investment, according to Space Capital.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

In Mesoamerica, timekeeping provided the stimulus that accounting gave to the Middle East.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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Related Words

• detail
• explanation
• history
• narrative
• report
• story
• tale
• version

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