accounting for

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To explain by relating circumstances; to show that some one, thing or members of a group are present or have been processed.
   • I don't have to account for anything to you.
2. (transitive) To be the primary cause of
   • The torrential downpour would account for the saturated state of the land.
3. (transitive) To constitute in amount or portion.
   • German speakers accounted for 37% of the population.
4. (transitive) To make or render a reckoning of funds, persons, or things.
   • His mind accounted for one useless article after another in a vain search for any kind of makeshift tool. Not a scrap of metal, not even a serviceable edge of broken stone or brick, had been left to suggest escape.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
5. (transitive) To be answerable for.
6. (transitive) To destroy or put out of action.
   • Coyotes account for more rabbits than hunters do.

See all 7 meanings of account for