account for sth/sb, /əˈkaʊnt/,
account for sb/sth, to know where sb/sth is or what happened to them, especially after an accident or a natural disaster.
All the people who were working in the building have now been accounted for. (Account for sb/sth is often used in the passive.)
account for sth,
1 to explain why or how something happened; to be the explanation for something.
How do you account for the fact that the box has disappeared?
Poor hygiene may have been accounted for the increase in cases of a disease.
2 to keep a record of how the money in your care will be spent or has been spent
Every penny in the funds is accounted for.
3 to consider particular facts or circumstances when you are making a decision about something.
The cost of the film and the processing were all accounted for in the calculation of the cost of service.
Expression: There is no accounting for taste(s) used to say that it is impossible to know why sb likes sb/sth that you do not like at all.
She seems to like you. Well, there is no accounting for taste.
Similar to: take sth into account, explain
