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

Keeping people safe requires work in advance, such as upgrading flood-control infrastructure and making evacuation plans that account for everyone. —Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 27 Aug. 2025

Unlike major markets such as the New York Stock Exchange, where retail investors account for about 20%-25% of trade volumes, China’s retail investors drive 90% of daily trading, according to data provided by HSBC. —Evelyn Cheng, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2025

The six states account for nearly one fifth of all Medicare beneficiaries, or about 6.4 million people. —Naveen Rao, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025

During a meeting with the head of Egyptian intelligence, some of these factions also criticized Hamas’s procrastination on reaching a cease-fire—which may account for Hamas’s immediate approval of the August 18 proposal without amendments. —Leila Seurat, Foreign Affairs, 26 Aug. 2025