Phrasal Verbsphrasal verbjump to other results
account forphrasal verb
- 1 to be the explanation or cause of something synonym explain The bad weather may have accounted for the small crowd. Oh well, that accounts for it (= I understand now why it happened).
- 2to give an explanation of something synonym explain How do you account for the show's success? He was unable to account for the error.
- 3to be a particular amount or part of something The Japanese market accounts for 35% of the company's revenue. Language Bankproportiondescribing fractions and proportions According to this pie chart, a third of students' leisure time is spent watching TV. One in five hours is spent socializing. Socializing accounts for/makes up/comprises about 20% of leisure time. Students spend twice as much time playing computer games as playing sports. Three times as many hours are spent playing computer games as reading. The figure for playing computer games is three times higher than the figure for reading. The largest proportion of time is spent playing computer games.
account for something
- 1to know where someone or something is or what has happened to them, especially after an accident All passengers have now been accounted for. Three files cannot be accounted for.
- 2 (informal) to defeat or destroy someone or something Our antiaircraft guns accounted for five enemy bombers.
account for somebody/something
to give a record of how the money in your care has been spent We have to account for every penny we spend on business trips.jump to other results