account to

English

Verb

account to (third-person singular simple present accounts to, present participle accounting to, simple past and past participle accounted to)

1. (transitive) To answer to; to be responsible to.

   I don't have to account to you for my actions.

   • 2004, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Emerging adulthood: the winding road from the late teens through the twenties, page 217:

     Now it's only me that I account to. No one's checking up on me, and anything I do has got to be up to me.

   • 2000, Elizabeth Adler, All Or Nothing, page 56:

     You are the one paying me, and you are the one I account to.

   • 2009, Chris Fujiwara, The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger, page 65:

     Asked where she's been, June replies in an angry outburst, "Why must I account to you? I'm twenty-four. I'm tired of doing the same things every day!

Related terms

• account for

Translations

to be responsible to

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 作出解释

• Finnish: vastata (fi), olla vastuussa
• French: rendre des comptes à
• German: Rechenschaft ablegen (de), Rechenschaft schuldig sein
• Hungarian: elszámol (hu), magyarázattal szolgál, megindokol (hu), számot ad (hu)
• Italian: rendere conto
• Japanese: 責任を負う (sekinin o ou), 責任がある (sekinin ga aru)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: rozliczać się
• Portuguese: responder por
• Russian: отчи́тываться (ru) impf (otčítyvatʹsja), отчита́ться (ru) pf (otčitátʹsja), дава́ть отчёт impf (davátʹ otčót), дать отчёт pf (datʹ otčót)
• Spanish: responder a