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say it: uh-KOWNT
account is a noun and verb meaning "a record or narrative description of past events". It carries 14 recorded senses.
history
a short account of the news
“the report of his speech”
“the story was on the 11 o'clock news”
“the account of his speech that was given on the evening news made the governor furious”
a formal contractual relationship established to provide for regular banking or brokerage or business services
“he asked to see the executive who handled his account”
a statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc.
“the explanation was very simple”
“I expected a brief account”
importance or value
“a person of considerable account”
“he predicted that although it is of small account now it will rapidly increase in importance”
a statement of recent transactions and the resulting balance
“they send me an accounting every month”
the act of informing by verbal report
“he heard reports that they were causing trouble”
“by all accounts they were a happy couple”
an itemized statement of money owed for goods shipped or services rendered
“he paid his bill and left”
“send me an account of what I owe”
be the sole or primary factor in the existence, acquisition, supply, or disposal of something
“Passing grades account for half of the grades given in this exam”
furnish a justifying analysis or explanation
“I can't account for the missing money”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for account come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.