accountability

accountability — noun

1. the duty to explain or justify your decisions, actions, or results to other peop

1.nounC1
Definition

the duty to explain or justify your decisions, actions, or results to other people, and to face consequences when something goes wrong.

Example

Voters in Taipei demanded greater accountability from the mayor after the construction scandal.

accountability from + person in authority

The new law improves accountability for how schools spend public money.

accountability for + activity or outcome

Common collocations
  • demand accountability
  • take accountability
  • lack of accountability
  • public accountability
  • personal accountability
Synonyms
  • responsibility

    broader; covers duties before AND after, while 'accountability' focuses on answering for the result

  • answerability

    near-synonym; rarer and more formal, often used in legal or governance writing

  • liability

    narrower; legal or financial exposure rather than the wider duty to explain

Antonyms
  • impunity

    freedom from being punished or questioned for wrong actions

Grammar Patterns

accountability for + noun phrase

accountability to + person or group

Usage Note

Almost always uncountable and used in formal contexts about institutions, leaders, or professionals. Subject is typically a person or organisation in a position of power; the implied audience is the public, voters, customers, or a higher authority.

Common Mistakes

She has many accountabilities at work.
She has many responsibilities at work.
'accountability' is uncountable; use 'responsibility' or 'duties' for individual tasks.
He took accountability of the mistake.
He took accountability for the mistake.
'accountability' pairs with 'for', not 'of'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe a link between a person and what they have done, but they highlight different stages and contexts. 'Responsibility' is the widest and most everyday word: it covers the duty to do something in the first place, such as taking care of a child or finishing a report. 'Accountability' picks up after the action and stresses the duty to explain results and accept the consequences, which is why it appears so often in politics, business, and education. 'Answerability' overlaps closely with accountability but sounds more formal and is mainly used in legal or governance writing. 'Liability' is the narrowest: it focuses on legal or financial exposure, as in 'the company faces liability for the damage'. Compare: 'Parents have a responsibility to feed their children, schools have accountability to the public, and a driver has liability after causing a crash.'

accountability ↗responsibility ↗liability ↗answerability

Common collocations

Nouns

  • lack of accountability
  • sense of accountability
  • chain of accountability
  • transparency and accountability

Adverbs

Phrases

  • hold someone accountable
  • demand greater accountability
  • take accountability for
  • improve accountability

Prepositions

  • accountability for
  • accountability to
  • accountability from

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Built from the adjective 'accountable' plus the noun-forming ending '-ity'. 'Accountable' itself goes back through Old French 'aconter' ('to count, reckon up') to Latin 'computare', which originally meant adding up numbers. The image is of someone who must add up and present the figures of what they have done. The abstract noun 'accountability' first appeared in English in the 1700s and became widely used in the late 20th century in political and management writing.