Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for on one's own account. Search instead for on-one-s-own-account.

on one's own account

Idioms  
  1. Also,. For oneself; also, by one's own efforts, as in I've gone into business on my own account, or He called the police on his own hook, or She went job-hunting on her own initiative. The first term, first recorded in 1801, transfers the financial sense of account to one's own interest or risk. The hook variant, a colloquialism, was first recorded in 1812 and the precise analogy is unclear. The second variant, using initiative in the sense of “enterprise,” was first recorded in 1858.


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.

To be scientifically inquiring is to seek on one's own account the significant relations between things.

From Human Traits and their Social Significance by Edman, Irwin

It is vulgar to be angry on one's own account; we ought only to be angry for great causes.

From Amiel's Journal by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

Better be a fool on one's own account, than a sage on other people's approbation!

From Thus Spake Zarathustra A book for all and none by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm

To Almenèches too one may go on one's own account; each place makes a pleasant drive from Argentan.

From Sketches of Travel in Normandy and Maine by Hutton, William Holden