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

Guided Therapeutics identified material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting, specifically a lack of resources to account for complex transactions. —Quartz Bot, Quartz, 14 Nov. 2024

But, Cleveland said, the figure does not account for investments those companies have made in the local economy. —Sierra Lopez, The Mercury News, 13 Nov. 2024

Most of the conventional explanations for why a campaign fails — things like messaging choices, or whether candidates campaigned enough in the right places — cannot account for such a sweeping shift. —Vox Staff, Vox, 6 Nov. 2024

One way to do this is to set up a separate bank account for client funds. —Vlad Rusz, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024