1 account for (something) a : to give a reason or explanation for (something) ▪ Eventually, you will need to account for your actions/behavior. ▪ How do you account for [=explain] your success? ◊The informal saying there's no accounting for taste means that there is no way to understand why some people like something while other people do not. ▪ I don't see why they liked the movie, but there's no accounting for taste. b : to be the cause of (something) ▪ The disease accounted for over 10,000 deaths last year. ▪ These new features account for the computer's higher price. ▪ The disease cannot be accounted for [=explained] by genetics alone. There must be other causes as well. c : to make up or form (a part of something) ▪ Women account for [=constitute, compose] only 25 percent of our employees. d US : to think about (something) before doing something : to take (something) into consideration ▪ The researchers failed to account for the fact that most of the students were poor.
2 account for (someone or something) a : to show what happened to (someone or something) ▪ We have to account for the time [=to say how much time] we spend on each activity. ▪ I'll have to account for the money I spent. : to know the location of (someone or something) ▪ The government couldn't account for millions of dollars of the taxpayers' money. ▪ Is everyone accounted for? [=do we know where everyone is?] ▪ All present and accounted for. [=everyone who is supposed to be here is here] b : to destroy or kill (someone or something) ▪ Enemy fighters have accounted for most of our bombers, Sir. ; also chiefly Brit : to defeat or beat (someone or something) ▪ We accounted for [=dispatched] the challengers 3–2.