account
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈkaʊnt/
rhymes: -aʊnt
Forms: form: accounts
form: accounting
form: accounted
form: accounted
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: account
form: account
form: accounted
form: account
form: accountest
form: accounted
form: accountedst
form: accounts
form: accounteth
form: accounted
form: account
form: accounted
form: account
form: accounted
form: account
form: -
form: accounting
form: accounted
Etymology: From Old French acounter, accomptere et al., from a- + conter (“to count”)). Compare count.
Senses: glosses: To provide explanation.
To present an account of; to answer for, to justify.
glosses: To provide explanation.
To give an account of financial transactions, money received etc.
examples: text: The Pagan Hercules, why was he accounted a hero?
ref: 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 8, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):
glosses: To provide explanation.
To estimate, consider (something to be as described).
synonyms: word: account
word: count
word: esteem
word: see
word: consider
word: deem
word: hold
word: dub
word: find
word: interpret
word: judge
word: look upon
word: regard as
word: think of
word: view as
examples: text: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 11:19:
glosses: To provide explanation.
To consider that.
examples: text: An officer must account with or to the treasurer for money received.
glosses: To provide explanation.
To give a satisfactory evaluation for financial transactions, money received etc.
examples: text: We must account for the use of our opportunities.
glosses: To provide explanation.
To give a satisfactory evaluation for (one's actions, behaviour etc.); to answer for.
examples: text: Idleness accounts for poverty.
text: While the overall model was invariant across groups, the direct relationship between atypical eating (not driven by weight/shape) and ED pathology was only significant in the autistic group. Therefore, while body image appears to contribute to ED pathology in autistic adults, atypical eating may represent an additional unique risk factor for ED pathology. While the correlational nature of this study precludes inferences about causality, the combination of atypical eating and body image dissatisfaction may partially account for elevated ED pathology in autism.
ref: 2025 February 14, Heather Westwood, Will Mandy, Rebecca Brewer, “The Relationship Between Interoception, Alexithymia, Autistic Traits and Eating Pathology in Autistic Adults”, in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, →DOI:
glosses: To provide explanation.
To give a satisfactory reason for; to explain.
examples: text: After the crash, not all passengers were accounted for.
glosses: To provide explanation.
To establish the location for someone.
examples: text: Desperately bold at last, the persecuted animals bolted above-ground—the terrier accounted for one, the keeper for another; Rawdon, from flurry and excitement, missed his rat, but on the other hand he half-murdered a ferret.
ref: 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 45, in Vanity Fair:
glosses: To provide explanation.
To cause the death, capture, or destruction of someone or something (+ for).
examples: text: neither the motion of the Moon, whereby moneths are computed; nor of the Sun, whereby years are accounted, consisteth of whole numbers, but admits of fractions, and broken parts, as we have already declared concerning the Moon.
ref: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To count.
To calculate, work out (especially with periods of time).
glosses: To count.
To count (up), enumerate.
examples: text: Long worke it were / Here to account the endlesse progeny / Of all the weeds that bud and blossome there [...].
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: To count.
To recount, relate (a narrative etc.).
glosses: Used in phrasal verbs: account for, account of, account to.
Derived terms: account for
account of
account to
misaccount
reaccount
unaccounted
Related terms: accountable
accountant