account for

1. 1.

   be the reason or explanation for

   “The recession accounts for the slow retail business”

   Broaderbe
2. 2.

   give reasons for

   “Can you account for all these absences?”

   Broaderexplain

Questions about account for

What does account for mean?

account for means "be the reason or explanation for". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

Is account for a common word?

account for is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.