accountability

«accountability» in Mova's school dictionary: being responsible for what you do and being ready to… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (accountability — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Accountability means being responsible for what you do and being ready to explain it and accept the results: «taking accountability for a mistake». tree →

2) (formal) In government and work, accountability means that people in charge must explain their decisions to others and can be held to blame. tree →

sense in the lessons

In ethics and citizenship lessons, accountability is part of fairness: leaders answer to voters, schools to inspectors, children to their families. In everyday life, owning up to a mistake shows accountability. Phrases: «take accountability», «hold someone to account», «accountability for».

examples

• Owning up to breaking the vase showed real accountability. tree →
• Voters want accountability from their leaders. tree →
• Our class has a rota so there is accountability for tidying up. tree →
• The coach talked about accountability: everyone is responsible for the team. tree →
• The report called for more accountability in the council. tree →
• Taking accountability means saying sorry and fixing things. tree →

note

Uncountable. From «accountable» (responsible, able to be asked to explain). Formal; everyday talk says «owning up», «taking responsibility». Not about money, though it comes from the same word as «account».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «accountability» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.