Call to Account

Meaning of Idiom ‘Call to Account’

To call (someone) to account means to demand that someone explain the reason for their (usually wrong) actions and to take responsibility for them; to hold someone responsible and answerable for their actions. ¹Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.,²Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.,³Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

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Usage

This is a slightly formal idiom.

Examples Of Use

“It is time Morrison was called to account for his shady financial dealings.”

“The congresswoman called the corporation to account for their fraudulent creation of fake credit accounts.”

Origin

Used since the mid-1500’s.

More Idioms Starting with C

• Chatterbox
• Copycat
• Cotton To Someone or Something
• Cotton On To Something
• Cheap and Cheerful Meaning

More Account Idioms

• There’s No Accounting for Tastes
• By All Accounts

More Call Idioms

• Ride Shotgun
• Call Names
• Pot Calling the Kettle Black
• Call It Quits
• Call the Shots

More To Idioms

• To Your Heart’s Content
• To a T
• Take Someone to the Cleaners
• Have Something Down to a Fine Art
• Hang On (or hang on to)

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