Library / English Dictionary

ACCOUNT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of taking advantage

Example:

she turned her writing skills to good account

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

gain; profit (the advantageous quality of being beneficial)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Importance or value

Example:

he predicted that although it is of small account now it will rapidly increase in importance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A record or narrative description of past events

Example:

the story of exposure to lead

Synonyms:

account; chronicle; history; story

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

record (anything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events)

Domain category:

history (the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "account"):

ancient history (a history of the ancient world)

etymology (a history of a word)

case history (detailed record of the background of a person or group under study or treatment)

historical document; historical paper; historical record (writing having historical value (as opposed to fiction or myth etc.))

annals; chronological record (a chronological account of events in successive years)

biography; life; life history; life story (an account of the series of events making up a person's life)

recital (a detailed account or description of something)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An itemized statement of money owed for goods shipped or services rendered

Example:

send me an account of what I owe

Synonyms:

account; bill; invoice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

financial statement; statement (a document showing credits and debits)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "account"):

check; chit; tab (the bill in a restaurant)

tax bill (money owed for taxes)

reckoning; tally (a bill for an amount due)

phone bill; telephone bill (statement of charges for telephone service)

doctor's bill; medical bill (statement of charges for medical services)

hotel bill (statement of charges for staying in a hotel)

electric bill (a bill for money owed for electricity used)

Derivation:

account (keep an account of)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A short account of the news

Example:

the account of his speech that was given on the evening news made the governor furious

Synonyms:

account; news report; report; story; write up

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

news (information reported in a newspaper or news magazine)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "account"):

newsletter; newssheet (report or open letter giving informal or confidential news of interest to a special group)

bulletin (a brief report (especially an official statement issued for immediate publication or broadcast))

communique; despatch; dispatch (an official report (usually sent in haste))

urban legend (a story that appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously in various forms and is usually false; contains elements of humor or horror and is popularly believed to be true)

exclusive; scoop (a news report that is reported first by one news organization)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc.

Example:

I expected a brief account

Synonyms:

account; explanation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

statement (a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc)

Meronyms (parts of "account"):

explanans ((logic) statements that explain the explicandum; the explanatory premises)

explanandum; explicandum ((logic) a statement of something (a fact or thing or expression) to be explained)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "account"):

walk-through (a thorough explanation (usually accompanied by a demonstration) of each step in a procedure or process)

interpretation (an explanation that results from interpreting something)

definition (a concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase or symbol)

derivation; deriving; etymologizing ((historical linguistics) an explanation of the historical origins of a word or phrase)

gloss; rubric (an explanation or definition of an obscure word in a text)

explication (a detailed explanation of the meaning of something)

exposition (an account that sets forth the meaning or intent of a writing or discourse)

justification (a statement in explanation of some action or belief)

reason (an explanation of the cause of some phenomenon)

accounting (a convincing explanation that reveals basic causes)

simplification (an explanation that omits superfluous details and reduces complexity)

Derivation:

account (furnish a justifying analysis or explanation)

account (to give an account or representation of in words)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The act of informing by verbal report

Example:

by all accounts they were a happy couple

Synonyms:

account; report

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

informing; making known (a speech act that conveys information)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "account"):

summarisation; summarization (the act of preparing a summary (or an instance thereof); stating briefly and succinctly)

indirect discourse (a report of a discourse in which deictic terms are modified appropriately (e.g.,)

direct discourse; direct quotation (a report of the exact words used in a discourse (e.g.,)

megillah ((Yiddish) a long boring tediously detailed account)

debriefing (report of a mission or task)

anecdote (short account of an incident (especially a biographical one))

narration; recital; yarn (the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events)

comment; gossip; scuttlebutt (a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Grounds

Example:

he tried to blame the victim but his success on that score was doubtful

Synonyms:

account; score

Classified under:

Nouns denoting goals

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

ground; reason (a rational motive for a belief or action)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A statement of recent transactions and the resulting balance

Example:

they send me an accounting every month

Synonyms:

account; account statement; accounting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

financial statement; statement (a document showing credits and debits)

Meronyms (parts of "account"):

balance (equality between the totals of the credit and debit sides of an account)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "account"):

expense account; travel and entertainment account (an account to which salespersons or executives can charge travel and entertainment expenses)

suspense account (an account used temporarily to carry doubtful receipts and disbursements or discrepancies pending their analysis and permanent classification)

profit and loss; profit and loss account (an account compiled at the end of an accounting period to show gross and net profit or loss)

capital account ((economics) that part of the balance of payments recording a nation's outflow and inflow of financial securities)

capital account ((finance) an account of the net value of a business at a specified date)

Sense 10

Meaning:

A formal contractual relationship established to provide for regular banking or brokerage or business services

Example:

he asked to see the executive who handled his account

Synonyms:

account; business relationship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("account" is a kind of...):

relationship (a state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "account"):

brokerage account (a fund that a customer has entrusted to a securities brokerage)

bank account (a fund that a customer has entrusted to a bank and from which the customer can make withdrawals)

short account (a brokerage account of someone who sells short (sells securities he does not own))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Furnish a justifying analysis or explanation

Example:

I can't account for the missing money

Synonyms:

account; answer for

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "account" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

account (a statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc.)

accountable (liable to account for one's actions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

To give an account or representation of in words

Example:

Discreet Italian police described it in a manner typically continental

Synonyms:

account; describe; report

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "account" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

account (a statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc.)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Keep an account of

Synonyms:

account; calculate

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "account"):

credit (accounting: enter as credit)

balance (compute credits and debits of an account)

overbalance (cause to be off balance)

debit (enter as debit)

compound (calculate principal and interest)

bill; charge (demand payment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

account (an itemized statement of money owed for goods shipped or services rendered)

accountant (someone who maintains and audits business accounts)

accounting (the occupation of maintaining and auditing records and preparing financial reports for a business)

accounting (a system that provides quantitative information about finances)

accounting (a statement of recent transactions and the resulting balance)

accounting (a bookkeeper's chronological list of related debits and credits of a business; forms part of a ledger of accounts)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be the sole or primary factor in the existence, acquisition, supply, or disposal of something

Example:

Passing grades account for half of the grades given in this exam

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "account" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

Those two beautiful sonnets that you transmuted into the cow that was accounted the worst milker in the township.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

There is no accounting for it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined to go, merely on that account, for in general, you know, they visit no newcomers.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I am about to undertake that task; and it is on that account that I feel so many overwhelming terrors.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Or if that ain't to your fancy, some of my hands being rough and having old scores on account of hazing, then you can stay here, you can.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A reduction in prostaglandin synthesis accounts for this agent's anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic and analgesic activities; a reduction in thromboxane A2 synthesis results in an irreversible inhibition of platelet aggregation.

(Nitric oxide-releasing acetylsalicylic acid derivative, NCI Thesaurus)

Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis accounts for their analgesic, antipyretic, and platelet-inhibitory actions; other mechanisms may contribute to their anti-inflammatory effects.

(Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drug, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

NEUROFIBROMATOSIS 1 (generalized neurofibromatosis) accounts for approximately 95% of cases, although multiple additional subtypes (e.g., NEUROFIBROMATOSIS 2, neurofibromatosis 3, etc.) have been described. (From Neurochirurgie 1998 Nov;44(4):267-72)

(Neurofibromatosis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The systematic account of natural phenomena; in medicine, the elucidation and description of disease progress.

(Natural History, NCI Thesaurus)

The elevated free fatty acids and active corticosteroids released from visceral fat may account for the metabolic changes in liver associated with the metabolic syndrome.

(Metabolic Syndrome Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)