Dictionary

hold to account en · VERB

Meanings

1. (transitive) To require a person to explain or to accept responsibility for his or her actions; to blame or punish someone for what has occurred.
   • [H]e issued stern warnings to tax evaders and lazy bureaucrats that he would hold them to account. 1996 December 21, Alessandra Stanley, “Patriarchal Yeltsin Says He's Eager to Get Back to Work”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 Jul 2012:
   • I believed it was vital to hold him to account for his obvious failings. 2004 November 15, Andrew Sullivan, “Essay: 2004 Election: Let's Have a Truce”, in Time:
   • [W]hatever they decided to do out there in the wilderness meant thousands of dollars to the stockholders somewhere up in God's country, who would some day hold them to account. 1906, Richard Harding Davis, chapter 1, in Soldiers of Fortune:
   • He said the council would use all its powers to hold both HS2 and its contractors to account. 2021 May 19, “Network News: Council to monitor HS2 concrete plant”, in RAIL, number 931, page 22:
   • While Harley had been in no way responsible for Pelton's murderous attack upon Yesler, public opinion held him to account. 1909, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 18, in Ridgway of Montana:

Forms

Relateds

account to · accountability · account for

Synonyms

call to account · hold responsible · take to task · hold accountable

Translations (13)

de zur Verantwortung ziehen (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · de Rechenschaft verlangen (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · fi vaatia tilille (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · pl rozliczać (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · ro trage la răspundere (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · pl rozliczyć (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · fi saattaa vastuuseen (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · cmn 追究責任 /追究责任 (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · hu felelősségre von (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · hu számonkér (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · es llamar a capítulo (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · es responsabilizar (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility) · de zur Rechenschaft ziehen (require a person to explain or to accept responsibility)