# account

Pronunciation: say "uh-KOWNT" /əˈkaʊnt/

## Noun

1. Permission to use a system as a particular registered user, usually through a username and password.
   - Simple: A way to log in to a website or app using your own name and password.
   - _She created an account to access the company's internal portal._
   - _His account was suspended after he violated the platform's rules._
2. An arrangement with a bank for holding money, allowing deposits, withdrawals, and transfers.
   - Simple: A bank service that holds your money so you can save, add, or take it out.
   - _He transferred his paycheck into a joint account with his wife._
   - _The bank froze her account after detecting suspicious activity._
3. A spoken or written report or description of events, or a statement explaining the reasons and causes behind them.
   - Simple: A description of what happened, sometimes including why it happened.
   - _The survivor's account of the earthquake was published in the newspaper._
   - _Historians compared several accounts before reconstructing the battle._
4. A written or printed record of money transactions, showing debts, credits, and other dealings subject to review.
   - Simple: A written record of money coming in and going out.
   - _The auditor examined the company's accounts for the past fiscal year._
   - _The shop owner kept a careful account of every sale and expense._
6. A reason, ground, or motive for something; also, a person's sake or behalf.
   - Simple: A reason or purpose for doing something, or for someone's sake.
   - _The meeting was postponed on account of the bad weather._
   - _She refused to change her plans on his account._
13. Importance, worth, value, or esteem attributed to someone or something.
   - Simple: The importance, worth, or value that something has.
   - _A man of great account in the city, he was welcomed everywhere._
   - _Such trifles were of no account to her._
16. Profit or advantage, especially a benefit gained from some situation or effort.
   - Simple: A gain or benefit you get from something.
   - _She turned the delay to good account, finishing her book while she waited._
   - _He put his talents to good account and built a thriving business._
8. A client that a company or agency serves, chiefly in advertising or sales, together with the business it handles for that client.
   - Simple: A customer of a company, especially in advertising or sales, and the work done for that customer.
   - _After a six-month pitch, the firm landed the airline's account._
   - _Each sales rep manages about forty accounts across the Midwest._

## Verb

5. To give a satisfactory reason for something; to explain why an event occurred.
   - Simple: To give a good reason that explains why something happened.
   - _Engineers could not account for the sudden drop in pressure._
   - _Scientists struggled to account for the unexpected results._
7. To give a satisfactory justification for one's actions or conduct; to answer for what one has done.
   - Simple: To explain and take responsibility for what you have done.
   - _Officials were called before the committee to account for their handling of the crisis._
   - _He knew he would eventually have to account for his role in the scandal._
10. To confirm where a particular person is, especially after an emergency or disruption.
   - Simple: To find out and show where someone is.
   - _Emergency crews could not account for two of the hikers until midday._
   - _By dawn, the ship's officers had accounted for every crew member._
12. To give a satisfactory explanation or formal statement of how money or financial transactions have been handled.
   - Simple: To show and explain how money was spent or received.
   - _Department heads must account for their spending at the annual review._
   - _The cashier carefully accounted for the day's takings before closing up._
14. Formal: to regard or consider someone or something to be as described; to hold the opinion that something is so.
   - Simple: To think of someone or something in a certain way.
   - _Historians account the treaty a turning point in the war._
   - _He accounted the risk too great to justify the venture._
15. To bring about the death, capture, or destruction of a person or thing.
   - Simple: To kill, capture, or destroy a person or thing.
   - _The marksman accounted for three of the raiders before dawn._
   - _A good barn cat can account for several mice in a single week._
9. To make up a certain amount, part, or proportion of a larger whole, used in the construction account for.
   - Simple: To be a certain part or amount of a bigger total, always used with for.
   - _Women account for roughly sixty percent of students at the university._
   - _Tourism accounted for a third of the island's income last year._

## Noun

11. A reckoning or calculation, or a written record of one. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A count or calculation, or a record that shows it.

## Verb

17. Old use: to count, reckon, or calculate a number or quantity, such as an interval of time. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In old use, to count or work out a number.
18. To recount or relate a narrative, telling a story or sequence of events. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To tell a story or describe what happened.

## Other meanings

- (noun) An estimate or estimation; a valuation or considered judgment of something.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 6, 8–9, 11, 13, 16** — Latin computō ("to sum up") gave Old French aconter ("to reckon") and its noun aconte. The word then passed through Anglo-Norman acunte into Middle English as acounte.
**Meanings 5, 7, 10, 12, 14–15, 17–18** — It comes from Old French acounter (also accomptere and similar forms), formed from a- plus conter, meaning "to count."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/account (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).