Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

1 N‑COUNT If you have an account with a bank or a similar organization, you have an arrangement to leave your money there and take some out when you need it. □  Some banks make it difficult to open an account. □ [+ with ] I had two accounts with the bank, a savings account and a current account.

2 N‑COUNT In business, a regular customer of a company can be referred to as an account , especially when the customer is another company. [BUSINESS ] □  The Glasgow-based marketing agency has won two Edinburgh accounts.

3 N‑COUNT [usu pl] Accounts are detailed records of all the money that a person or business receives and spends. [BUSINESS ] □  He kept detailed accounts. □  …an account book.

4 N‑COUNT An account is a written or spoken report of something that has happened. □ [+ of ] He gave a detailed account of what happened on the fateful night.

5 → see also accounting , bank account , current account , deposit account

6 PHRASE If you say that something is true by all accounts or from all accounts , you believe it is true because other people say so. □  He is, by all accounts, a superb teacher.

7 PHRASE If you say that someone gave a good account of themselves in a particular situation, you mean that they performed well, although they may not have been completely successful. □  The team fought hard and gave a good account of themselves.

8 PHRASE If you say that something is of no account or of little account , you mean that it is very unimportant and is not worth considering. [FORMAL ] □  These obscure groups were of little account in national politics.

9 PHRASE If you buy or pay for something on account , you pay nothing or only part of the cost at first, and pay the rest later. □  The cards are issued to employees so they can purchase fuel on account.

10 PHRASE You use on account of to introduce the reason or explanation for something. □  The President declined to deliver the speech himself, on account of a sore throat.

11 PHRASE Your feelings on someone's account are the feelings you have about what they have experienced or might experience, especially when you imagine yourself to be in their situation. □  Mollie told me what she'd done and I was really scared on her account.

12 PHRASE If you tell someone not to do something on your account , you mean that they should do it only if they want to, and not because they think it will please you. [SPOKEN ] □  Don't leave on my account.

13 PHRASE If you say that something should on no account be done, you are emphasizing that it should not be done under any circumstances. [EMPHASIS ] □  On no account should the mixture boil.

14 PHRASE If you do something on your own account , you do it because you want to and without being asked, and you take responsibility for your own action. □  I told him if he withdrew it was on his own account.

15 PHRASE If you take something into account , or take account of something, you consider it when you are thinking about a situation or deciding what to do. □  The defendant asked for 21 similar offences to be taken into account. □  Urban planners in practice have to take account of many interest groups in society.

16 PHRASE If someone is called, held, or brought to account for something they have done wrong, they are made to explain why they did it, and are often criticized or punished for it. □ [+ for ] Ministers should be called to account for their actions.

▸  account for

1 PHRASAL VERB If a particular thing accounts for a part or proportion of something, that part or proportion consists of that thing, or is used or produced by it. □ [V P n] Computers account for 5% of the country's commercial electricity consumption.