account for (something)

phrasal verb

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

1

: to give a reason or explanation for (something)

How do you account for your success?

2

: to be the cause of (something)

These new features account for the computer's higher price.

3

: to make up or form (a part of something)

Women account for only 25 percent of our employees.

4

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.

Examples of account for (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

In January, the official X account for the police department of Rosenberg, Texas, posted two photos of a Cybertruck parked in a shopping complex lot near a cop car. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 6 June 2024