account for (someone or something)

phrasal verb

accounted for (someone or something); accounting for (someone or something); accounts for (someone or something)

1

: to show what happened to (someone or something) : know where (something or someone) is

We have to account for the time we spend on each activity.

The government couldn't account for millions of dollars of the taxpayers' money.

Is everyone accounted for?

2

: to destroy or kill (someone or something)

Enemy fighters have accounted for most of our bombers, Sir.

3

chiefly British : to defeat or beat (someone or something)

We accounted for the challengers 3–2.

Examples of account for (someone or something) in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The world’s wealthiest 10% already account for half of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, according to Oxfam research. —Eva Roytburg, Fortune Europe, 9 June 2024

But the number does account for about 8 percent of all requests during that nine-month period. —Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 June 2024

However, today’s regulations do not account for all these new and emerging intermediary data categories. —Rachel Ventresca, Fortune, 7 June 2024

Through the smoke, residents stumbled down the stairs from their apartments and told fire officers who were trying to account for all the inhabitants that a young woman was renting the top-floor flat. —Oleksandr Chubko, New York Times, 6 June 2024