accountable
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
required to explain your actions or decisions to someone else, especially when you make a mistake.
obliged to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions; answerable to an authority or the public.
Simple“The government must be accountable to the people who voted for them.”
In context“Public officials are held strictly accountable for the transparent management of taxpayer funds and must justify any significant budgetary deviations.”
UsageOften used with the prepositions 'to' (the person in charge) and 'for' (the task or action).
PitfallThe manager is accountable of the budget. The manager is accountable for the budget.Use the preposition 'for' to describe the thing you are responsible for, and 'to' for the person you answer to.
SynonymsAntonymsunaccountableirresponsible - 02 C2 Proficiency
possible to explain or understand.
capable of being accounted for or explained through logic or evidence.
Simple“The strange noise was accountable once we found the broken window.”
In context“The sudden shift in the chemical composition of the soil was only accountable by the presence of an underground spring.”
UsageIn modern English, 'explicable' is much more common for this meaning.
SynonymsAntonymsunaccountableinexplicable
“No one was held accountable, Markovic said, directly blaming Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), who have been in power for 14 years.”
“I think it’s a push to blame Matthiessen for the plight of the snow leopard, in the same way that Melville shouldn’t be held accountable for the decline in sperm whales.”
From account + -able. First attested around 1400.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.