account
Other forms: accounts; accounted; accounting
An account can be many things — such as a story, like if you give a friend an account of what happened at the party she missed. It can also be a business arrangement, like a bank account or an email account.
Account is one of those seemingly simple words that have a mass of different meanings. An account can be a narrative or story — a biography, for example, is an account of someone's life. Account can also mean an explanation of something, as in the phrase, "How do you account for that?" An account is also a handy arrangement whereby a store agrees to provide you goods on credit, but then you might have to account for all that debt.
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a record or narrative description of past eventstypes:ancient historya history of the ancient worldetymologya history of a wordcase historydetailed record of the background of a person or group under study or treatmenthistorical document, historical paper, historical recordwriting having historical value (as opposed to fiction or myth etc.)biography, life, life history, life storyan account of the series of events making up a person's liferecitala detailed account or description of somethingfolk etymologya popular but erroneous etymologyfamily historypart of a patient's medical history in which questions are asked in an attempt to find out whether the patient has hereditary tendencies toward particular diseasesanamnesis, medical history, medical recordthe case history of a medical patient as recalled by the patientautobiographya biography of yourselfhagiographya biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint)profilebiographical sketchtype of:recordanything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events
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a short account of the news“the account of his speech that was given on the evening news made the governor furious”synonyms: news report, report, story, write uptypes:newsletter, newssheetreport or open letter giving informal or confidential news of interest to a special groupbulletina brief report (especially an official statement issued for immediate publication or broadcast)urban legendan untrue story of unknown origin containing elements of humor or horror that spreads spontaneously in various formsmarket lettera newsletter written by an analyst of the stock market and sold to subscribersflash, news bulletin, newsbreak, newsflasha short news announcement concerning some on-going news storyinformation bulletina bulletin containing the latest informationtype of:newsinformation reported in a newspaper or news magazine
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the act of informing by verbal report“by all accounts they were a happy couple”synonyms: reporttypes:summarisation, summarizationthe act of preparing a summary (or an instance thereof); stating briefly and succinctlyindirect discoursea report of a discourse in which deictic terms are modified appropriately (e.g., "he said `I am a fool' would be modified to `he said he is a fool'")direct discourse, direct quotationa report of the exact words used in a discourse (e.g., "he said `I am a fool'")megillah(Yiddish) a long boring tediously detailed accountdebriefingreport of a mission or taskanecdoteshort account of an incident (especially a biographical one)earfulan outpouring of gossiptype of:
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a statement that makes something comprehensible by describing the relevant structure or operation or circumstances etc.“I expected a brief account”synonyms: explanationtypes:simplificationan explanation that omits superfluous details and reduces complexityaccountinga convincing explanation that reveals basic causesreasonan explanation of the cause of some phenomenonjustificationa statement in explanation of some action or beliefexpositionan account that sets forth the meaning or intent of a writing or discourseexplicationa detailed explanation of the meaning of somethingderivation, deriving, etymologizing(historical linguistics) an explanation of the historical origins of a word or phrasedefinitiona concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase or symbolinterpretationan explanation that results from interpreting somethingwalk-througha thorough explanation (usually accompanied by a demonstration) of each step in a procedure or processexposition, expoundinga systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topicconstrualan interpretation of the meaning of something; the act of construingcontextual definitiona definition in which the term is used by embedding it in a larger expression containing its explanationdictionary definitiona definition that reports the standard uses of a word or phrase or symbolexplicit definitiona definition that gives an exact equivalent of the term definedostensive definitiona definition that points out or exhibits instances of the term definedrecursive definition(mathematics) a definition of a function from which values of the function can be calculated in a finite number of stepsredefinitionthe act of giving a new definitionstipulative definitiona definition that is stipulated by someone and that is not a standard usageeisegesispersonal interpretation of a text (especially of the Bible) using your own ideasexegesisan explanation or critical interpretation (especially of the Bible)ijtihadthe endeavor of a Moslem scholar to derive a rule of divine law from the Koran and Hadith without relying on the views of other scholars; by the end of the 10th century theologians decided that debate on such matters would be closed and Muslim theology and law were frozenliteral interpretationan interpretation based on the exact wordingversionan interpretation of a matter from a particular viewpointreadinga particular interpretation or performancereconstructionan interpretation formed by piecing together bits of evidencetype of:statementa message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc
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give an account or representation of in words
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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”type of:behave the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
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furnish a justifying analysis or explanation“I can't account for the missing money”synonyms: answer fortype of:declarestate emphatically and authoritatively
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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”synonyms: business relationshiptypes:brokerage accounta fund that a customer has entrusted to a securities brokeragebank accounta fund that a customer has entrusted to a bank and from which the customer can make withdrawalsshort accounta brokerage account of someone who sells short (sells securities he does not own)cash accountan account with a securities brokerage whose transactions are settled on a cash basismargin accountan account with a securities brokerage in which the broker extends creditgiro accountan account at a post office that can be used in similar ways to an account at a bankchecking account, chequing account, current accounta bank account against which the depositor can draw checks that are payable on demandsavings accounta bank account that accumulates interesttype of:relationshipa state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries
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a statement of recent transactions and the resulting balance“they send me an accounting every month”synonyms: account statement, accountingtypes:capital account(finance) an account of the net value of a business at a specified datecapital account(economics) that part of the balance of payments recording a nation's outflow and inflow of financial securitiesprofit and loss, profit and loss accountan account compiled at the end of an accounting period to show gross and net profit or losssuspense accountan account used temporarily to carry doubtful receipts and disbursements or discrepancies pending their analysis and permanent classificationexpense account, travel and entertainment accountan account to which salespersons or executives can charge travel and entertainment expensestype of:
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an itemized statement of money owed for goods or services“send me an account of what I owe”types:electric billa bill for money owed for electricity usedhotel billstatement of charges for staying in a hoteltax billmoney owed for taxestype of:
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keep an account ofsynonyms: calculatetypes:creditaccounting: enter as creditbalancecompute credits and debits of an accountoverbalancecause to be off balancedebitenter as debitcompoundcalculate principal and interestfinancesell or provide on credittitheexact a tithe fromassesscharge (a person or a property) with a payment, such as a tax or a fineunderchargecharge (someone) too little moneysurchargecharge an extra fee, as for a special serviceinvoicesend an bill tochargeenter a certain amount as a charge
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grounds
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importance or value“a person of considerable account”“he predicted that although it is of small account now it will rapidly increase in importance”type of:importancethe quality of being important and worthy of note
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the quality of taking advantage
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Vocabulary lists containing account
On the ACT Reading Test, you'll encounter questions that ask you to determine the meanings of common words in context. We've identified 200 high-frequency, multiple-meaning words of the sort that you'll see on the exam. As you practice this list, you'll have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in a particular sentence. Be careful! Several of a word's meanings might show up as answer choices — but only one answer will capture the meaning of the word in the context of the sentence.
Context is king — that’s the lesson you need to internalize as you begin preparing for the vocabulary questions on the SAT. We have identified this pool of 200 words that cut across the disciplines and lend themselves well to context-dependent interpretation. As you learn this list on Vocabulary.com, you will have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in particular sentences. This is the same type of thinking you will need to develop in order to succeed on the SAT! Following our Roadmap to the SAT? Head back to see what else you should be learning this week.
Context is king -- that’s the lesson you need to internalize as you begin preparing for the vocabulary questions on the new SAT. We have identified this pool of 200 words that cut across the disciplines and lend themselves well to context-dependent interpretation. As you learn this list on Vocabulary.com, you will have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in particular sentences. This is the same type of thinking you will need to develop in order to succeed on the new SAT! Here are all of our word lists to help you prepare for the new SAT (debuting March of 2016): The Language of the Test, Multiple-Meaning Words, and Words to Capture Tone.