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

---

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]

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

account for

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a letter asking him to account for how the federal response had gone so badly.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Visibility at the apex of the sport can be vital to success at the high school and youth levels, which account for most of the 800,000 helmets sold each year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Authorities have promised a return on investment, citing bank estimates -- and a rough 20-year timeline -- that the project will account for 13 percent of Hong Kong's gross domestic product.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

Posted Wednesday to the official X account for DHS, the image created by artificial intelligence depicted the “Transformers” character opposite a bearded man wearing a bandanna over his hair.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

In the federal system, for example, homicide convictions account for 0.4 percent of the past decade’s growth in the federal prison population, while drug convictions account for nearly 61 percent of that expansion.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander