Word.ws English Dictionary

account

Syllables: ac·count/əˈkaʊnt/

account noun: a registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review.

Noun

account (plural accounts)

  1. A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review.
    • The firm failed to file its accounts on time.
  2. A bank account.
    • The money was refunded to her account.
    • The Pueblo bank has advised that the operator opened an account at that bank with currency, and a few days later withdrew the amount.1910, Journal of the American Bankers Association Vol. XI, No. 1, American Bankers Association, page 3
  3. A statement in general of reasons, causes, grounds, etc., explanatory of some event; a reason of an action to be done.
    • Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.2012 January, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2013, page 60
    • No satisfactory account has been given of these phenomena.
  4. A reason, grounds, consideration, motive; a person's sake.
    • Don't trouble yourself on my account.
    • on no account
  5. A record of events; a relation or narrative.
    • An account of a battle.
    • A laudible account of the city of London.1657, Jam. Howel [i.e., James Howell], Londinopolis; an Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, the Imperial Chamber, and Chief Emporium of Great Britain: […], London: […]...
  6. An estimate or estimation; valuation; judgment.
    • To stand high in your account1623, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 3, scene 2
  7. Importance; worth; value; esteem; judgement.
    • There is a peculiarity in Homers manner of apoſtrophizing Eumæus, and ſpeaking of him in the ſecond perſon; it is generally apply'd by that Poet only to men of account' and diſtinction, and by it the Poet, as it were, addreſſes them with reſpect; […]1725, Homer, “Book XIV”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, footnote, page 235
  8. Authorization as a specific registered user in accessing a system.
    • Since the system outage, I've been unable to log in to my account.
    • In these cases, the agency has to buy through another ad agency that has an account with the media vehicle in question.2000, Sean Mooney, 5,110 Days in Tokyo and Everything's Hunky-dory, page 66
  9. (archaic) A reckoning; computation; calculation; enumeration; a record of some reckoning.
    • It seems that this severity weakened his frame, for three years syne come Martinmas he was taken ill with a fever of the bowels, and after a week's sickness he went to his account, where I trust he is accepted.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
  10. (uncountable) Profit; advantage.
    • The young man soon turned his woodworking skills to some account.
    • I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput)

Verb

account (third-person singular simple present accounts, present participle accounting, simple past and past participle accounted)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To present an account of; to answer for, to justify.
  2. (archaic, intransitive) To give an account of financial transactions, money received etc.
  3. (transitive) To estimate, consider (something to be as described).
    • I'd account it a privilege to serve you.
    • The Pagan Hercules, why was he accounted a hero?1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 8, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker)
  4. (intransitive) To consider that.
    • Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 11:19
  5. (intransitive) To give a satisfactory evaluation for financial transactions, money received etc.
    • An officer must account with or to the treasurer for money received.
  6. (intransitive) To give a satisfactory evaluation for (one's actions, behaviour etc.); to answer for.
    • We must account for the use of our opportunities.
  7. (intransitive) To give a satisfactory reason for; to explain.
    • Idleness accounts for poverty.
    • While the overall model was invariant across groups, the direct relationship between atypical eating (not driven by weight/shape) and ED pathology was only significant in the autistic group. Therefore, while body image appears to contribute to ED pathology in autistic adults, atypical eating may...2025 February 14, Heather Westwood, Will Mandy, Rebecca Brewer, “The Relationship Between Interoception, Alexithymia, Autistic Traits and Eating Pathology in Autistic Adults”, in Journal of Autism...
  8. (intransitive) To establish the location for someone.
    • After the crash, not all passengers were accounted for.
  9. (intransitive) To cause the death, capture, or destruction of someone or something (+ for).
    • Desperately bold at last, the persecuted animals bolted above-ground—the terrier accounted for one, the keeper for another; Rawdon, from flurry and excitement, missed his rat, but on the other hand he half-murdered a ferret.1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 45, in Vanity Fair
  10. (archaic, transitive) To calculate, work out (especially with periods of time).
    • neither the motion of the Moon, whereby moneths are computed; nor of the Sun, whereby years are accounted, consisteth of whole numbers, but admits of fractions, and broken parts, as we have already declared concerning the Moon.1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
  11. (obsolete) To count (up), enumerate.
  12. (obsolete) To recount, relate (a narrative etc.).
    • Long worke it were / Here to account the endlesse progeny / Of all the weeds that bud and blossome there [...].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  13. Used in phrasal verbs: account for, account of, account to.

account meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

account in Hindi

a statement of facts or occurrences
वृत्तान्त vŕttānt
a registry of pecuniary transactions
हिसाब hisāb, खाता khātā

account in Tamil

a registry of pecuniary transactions
கணக்கு kaṇakku
a statement in general of reasons, causes, grounds, etc.
விளக்கம் viḷakkam
an authorization to use a service
கணக்கு kaṇakku
(archaic) reckoning, calculation
கணக்கு kaṇakku

account in Marathi

account; a registry of pecuniary transactions
हिशोब hiśob
account, ledger
खाते khāte
an account; a statement or record of receipts and expenses in bookkeeping
जमाखर्च jamākharca

account in Urdu

a registry of pecuniary transactions
حِساب hisāb, کھاتا khātā
More languagesFewer languages
account in Bengali
হিসাব hiśab
account in Telugu
ఖాతా khātā
account in Malayalam
അക്കൗണ്ട് akkauṇṭŭ
account in Kannada
ಖಾತೆ khāte
account in Punjabi
لیکھا lekhā, ਚਿੱਠਾ ciṭṭhā, چٹھا ciṭṭhā, ਹਿਸਾਬ hisāb
account in Gujarati
હિસાબ hisāb
account in Odia
କାଗଜ kāgaja, କଥା kathā
account in Sanskrit
गणना gaṇanā
account in Assamese
হিচাপ hisap
account in Nepali
हिसाब hisāb, खाता khātā
account in Pashto
حساب hesāb
account in Tagalog
ulat, panagutan
account in Arabic
حِسَاب ḥisāb
account in Malay
akaun, hisab
account in Indonesian
rekening, akun
account in Thai
บัญชี ban-chii
account in Vietnamese
chuyện kể, tài khoản
account in Myanmar
အကောင့် a.kaung.

Examples of account in a sentence

  • Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 16:2:
  • […] who evidently a glutton for work, it struck him, was having a quiet forty winks for all intents and purposes on his own private account while Dublin slept.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
  • The study of the main body of Hittite texts was intrusted^([sic]) to the Austrian scholar Hrozny, who in 1915 published a preliminary account of his results[…]1920, Carl D. Buck, “Hittite an Indo-European Language?”, in Classical Philology, volume 15, number 2, →DOI, page 185:
  • For example, to register an account with Hotmail, you should type www.hotmail.com on the Address bar of your browser to go to the Hotmail e-mail service WEB page.2002, Whizkids Data Creation:

All 40 example sentences with account

Synonyms of account

17 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of account

Forms of account

Noun
pluralaccounts
Verb
third-person singular presentaccounts
present participleaccounting
past participleaccounted
pastaccounted
second-person singular present (archaic)accountest
second-person singular past (archaic)accountedst
third-person singular present (archaic)accounteth

Past tense of account: accounted

Plural of account: accounts

Origin of account

From Middle English acounte, from Anglo-Norman acunte (“account”), from Old French aconte, from aconter (“to reckon”), from Latin computō (“to sum up”).

From Old French acounter, accomptere et al., from a- + conter (“to count”)). Compare count.

Words formed from account

Phrases with account

85 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with account

Questions about account

What does account mean?
Account means a registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review.
What is account in Hindi?
Account in Hindi is वृत्तान्त (vŕttānt), हिसाब (hisāb), खाता (khātā). See Account meaning in Hindi.
How do you use account in a sentence?
Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
What part of speech is account?
Account can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce account?
Account is pronounced /əˈkaʊnt/ (US).
What is the plural of account?
The plural of account is accounts.

Words near account in the dictionary

  1. accoucheurs
  2. accoucheurship
  3. accoucheuse
  4. accoucheuses
  5. accouching
  6. account
  7. account book
  8. account books
  9. account code
  10. account codes
  11. account current

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: account (page history and authors); खाते (Marathi) (page history and authors); അക്കൗണ്ട് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); لیکھا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); କଥା (Odia) (page history and authors); खाता (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-account.ogg.

Cite this entry: “account.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/account. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.