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ACCOUNT FOR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Give reasons for
Example:
Can you account for all these absences?
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "account for" is one way to...):
explain; explicate (make plain and comprehensible)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 2
Meaning:
Be the reason or explanation for
Example:
The recession accounts for the slow retail business
Classified under:
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations
Hypernyms (to "account for" is one way to...):
be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))
Sentence frame:
Something ----s something
Context examples:
Researchers say genetics account for 31 to 55 percent of sleep duration and behavior and environment account for the remainder.
(Chronic Sleep Deprivation Suppresses Immune System, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
I confess that they quite surpass my expectations, and that I am utterly unable to account for your result.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It required some glorified petticoat to account for that 'Love-cycle,' and that's the shame of it.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
According to the scientists, the collision provided sufficient carbonaceous material to account for the entire amount of water on Earth.
(Moon’s Formation Brought Water to Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Heating and cooling account for a significant proportion of energy use in buildings.
(Wind more effective than cold air at cooling rooms naturally, University of Cambridge)
Dr. Freedman then carried out specially designed face-to-face rejection experiments to account for the fact that people don't like to admit negative feelings, such as the pain of rejection.
(Sometimes You Shouldn't Say Sorry, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Ten countries account for 95 percent of this carbon storage potential, led by Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico.
(Natural regeneration of tropical forests helps global climate mitigation and forest restoration, NSF)
Schmittner and his colleagues estimate that colder ocean temperatures would account for about half the decrease in CO2 during the last glacial maximum — or peak of the last ice age.
(Why atmospheric carbon dioxide was lower during ice ages, National Science Foundation)
A difference in the degree of pegylation may account for the extended half-life of this agent compared to pegfilgrastim which is pegylated at only one amino acid residue.
(Pegylated Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor MAXY-G34, NCI Thesaurus)
