What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Check vs Account - What's the difference?

check | account |

As nouns the difference between check and account

is that check is (chess) a situation in which the king is directly threatened by an opposing piece or check can be (textiles|usually|pluralized) a pattern made up of a grid of squares of alternating colors; a checkered pattern while account is (accounting) a registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review.

As verbs the difference between check and account

is that check is to inspect; to examine while account is to provide explanation.

check

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) eschec, from . All English senses developed from the chess sense.

Noun

(en noun)
  • (chess) A situation in which the king is directly threatened by an opposing piece.
  • An inspection or examination.
  • I don't know if she will be there, but it's worth a check .
  • A control; a limit or stop.
  • checks and balances
    The castle moat should hold the enemy in check .
  • * Addison
  • a remarkable check to the first progress of Christianity
  • (US) A mark (especially a checkmark: ) used as an indicator, equivalent to a tick (UK) .
  • Place a check by the things you have done.
  • (US) An order to a bank to pay money to a named person or entity; a cheque (UK, Canada) .
  • I was not carrying cash, so I wrote a check for the amount.
  • (US) A bill, particularly in a restaurant.
  • I summoned the waiter, paid the check , and hurried to leave.
  • A maneuver performed by a player to take another player out of the play.
  • The hockey player gave a good hard check to obtain the puck.
  • A token used instead of cash in gaming machines.
  • * 1963 , American law reports annotated: second series (volume 89)
  • A lengthwise separation through the growth rings in wood.
  • A mark, certificate, or token, by which, errors may be prevented, or a thing or person may be identified.
  • a check''' given for baggage; a return '''check on a railroad
  • (falconry) The forsaking by a hawk of its proper game to follow other birds.
  • A small chink or crack.
  • Synonyms
    * (note of monetary transfer) cheque * (indicator mark) tick (UK), checkmark, * (bill of sale) cheque (Canada)
    Descendants
    * German: * Spanish:

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To inspect; to examine.
  • Check the oil in your car once a month.
    Check whether this page has a watermark.
  • To mark with a checkmark.
  • Check the correct answer to each question.
  • To control, limit, or halt.
  • Check your enthusiasm during a negotiation.
  • * Burke
  • so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and oppression
  • * 1922 , (James Joyce), Chapter 13
  • She was about to retort but something checked the words on her tongue.
  • To verify or compare with a source of information.
  • Check your data against known values.
  • To leave in safekeeping.
  • Check your hat and coat at the door.
  • To leave with a shipping agent for shipping.
  • Check your bags at the ticket counter before the flight.
  • To pass or bounce the ball to an opponent from behind the three-point line and have the opponent pass or bounce it back to start play.
  • He checked the ball and then proceeded to perform a perfect layup.
    That basket doesn't count—you forgot to check !
  • To physically remove a person from play.
  • The hockey player checked the defenceman to obtain the puck .
  • (poker) To remain in a hand without betting. Only legal if no one has yet bet.
  • Tom didn't think he could win, so he checked .
  • (chess) To make a move which puts an adversary's piece, especially the king, in check; to put in check.
  • To chide, rebuke, or reprove.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The good king, his master, will check him for it.
  • (nautical) To slack or ease off, as a brace which is too stiffly extended.
  • To crack or gape open, as wood in drying; or to crack in small checks, as varnish, paint, etc.
  • To make checks or chinks in; to cause to crack.
  • The sun checks timber.
  • To make a stop; to pause; with at .
  • * John Locke
  • The mind, once jaded by an attempt above its power, either is disabled for the future, or else checks at any vigorous undertaking ever after.
  • (obsolete) To clash or interfere.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • To act as a curb or restraint.
  • * Dryden
  • It [his presence] checks too strong upon me.
  • (falconry) To turn, when in pursuit of proper game, and fly after other birds.
  • * Shakespeare
  • And like the haggard, check at every feather / That comes before his eye.
    Derived terms
    * check in * check into * check out * check over * check through * check up
    Derived terms
    * bad check * bed check * body check * bounce a check * cashier's check * check against * checkbook * check casher * checker * checkers * checkered * checking * checking account * check in * check into * checking account * check is in the mail * check a person out * check it out * checklist * checkmate * checkout * check out * check over * checkup * check up on * check valve * checks and balances * counter check * cross-check * discovered check * double check * double-check * hot check * kite a check * put in check * rain check * reality check * recheck * revealed check * shoulder check * stick check * teller's check * traveler's check * unch * unchecked

    Etymology 2

    By shortening from checker, from (etyl) scaccarium, ultimately from the same Persian root as above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (textiles, usually, pluralized) A pattern made up of a grid of squares of alternating colors; a checkered pattern.
  • The tablecloth had red and white check s.

    References

    * * 'Check' at EtymOnline English terms derived from Persian ----

    account

    English

    Etymology 1

    * First attested around 1300. ((reckoning of moneys received and paid)) * (banking) First attested in 1833. * (narration) First attested in the 1610's. * From (etyl), from (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (accounting) A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review
  • (banking) A sum of money deposited at a bank and subject to withdrawal.
  • to keep one's account at the bank.
  • A statement in general of reasons, causes, grounds, etc., explanatory of some event; a reason of an action to be done.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
  • , author=Stephen Ledoux , title=Behaviorism at 100 , volume=100, issue=1, page=60 , magazine= citation , passage=Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.}}
    No satisfactory account has been given of these phenomena.
  • A reason, grounds, consideration, motive.
  • on no account
    on every account
    on all accounts
  • * Episode 16
  • ...who evidently a glutton for work, it struck him, was having a quiet forty winks for all intents and purposes on his own private account while Dublin slept.
  • (business) A business relationship involving the exchange of money and credit.
  • A record of events; recital of transactions; a relation or narrative; a report; a description
  • An account of a battle.
  • * (rfdate) A laudable account of the city of London. - Howell
  • A statement explaining one's conduct.
  • * (rfdate) Give an account of thy stewardship. - Luke 16:2
  • An estimate or estimation; valuation; judgment.
  • * (rfdate) To stand high in your account - Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, III-ii
  • Importance; worth; value; esteem; judgement.
  • * (rfdate) Men of account -
  • * (rfdate) To turn to account - Shakespeare
  • An authorization to use a service.
  • I've opened an account with Wikipedia so that I can contribute and partake in the project.
  • (archaic) A reckoning; computation; calculation; enumeration; a record of some reckoning.
  • Profit; advantage.
  • Usage notes
    * Abbreviations: (business) * of Account , narrative, narration, recital. These words are applied to different modes of rehearsing a series of events * Account' turns attention not so much to the speaker as to the fact related, and more properly applies to the report of some single event, or a group of incidents taken as whole; as, an ' account of a battle, of a shipwreck, etc. * A narrative' is a continuous story of connected incidents, such as one friend might tell to another; as, a '''narrative''' of the events of a siege, a ' narrative of one's life, etc. * Narration' is usually the same as '''narrative''', but is sometimes used to describe the '''mode''' of relating events; as, his powers of ' narration are uncommonly great. * Recital' denotes a series of events drawn out into minute particulars, usually expressing something which peculiarly interests the feelings of the speaker; as, the ' recital of one's wrongs, disappointments, sufferings, etc.
    Synonyms
    * (registry of pecuniary transactions) * (statement of occurrences) narrative, narration, relation, recital, description, explanation * (a statement of reasons) accounting, explanation * (a reason) * (a vindication) defense, excuse, explanation * (estimate) * * (authorization to use a service) membership, registration, username
    Derived terms
    (Financial terms) * account balance * account book * account code * account executive * account number * account payable * account receivable * account stated * active account * bank account * book account * capital account * cash account * cast accounts * charge account * checking account * concentration account * control account * credit account * current account * custodial account * deferred account * deposit account * discretionary account * dormant account * drawing account * escrow account * expense account * final account * frozen account * general account * giro account * house account * insured account * joint account * managed account * margin account * merchant account * mixed account * money of account * nostro account * NOW account * numbered account * omnibus account * open account * option account * overdraft checking account * pension account * profit and loss account * reserved account * restricted account * retirement account * savings account * separate account * share premium account * suspense account * sweep account * trading account * transaction account * trust account * trustee account * undermargined account * undivided account * valuation account * vostro account * western account * wrap account * zero-balance account (Non-financial terms) * account current: a running or continued account between two or more parties, or a statement of the particulars of such an account * call to account * cast up one's accounts * hold to account * in account with: in a relation requiring an account to be kept * no-account * on account of: for the sake of; by reason of; because of * on no account * on one's own account: for one's own interest or behalf * make account: (Obsolete): to have an opinion or expectation; to reckon * make account of: to hold in estimation; to esteem; as, he makes' small ' account of beauty * shell account * short account * take account of, or take into account: to take into consideration; to notice * a writ of account: (Law): a writ which the plaintiff brings demanding that the defendant shall render his just account, or show good cause to the contrary; -- called also an action of account - Cowell * take into account * theoretical account

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) acounter, (accomptere) et al., (etyl) aconter, (acompter), from (a-) + . Compare (count).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to provide explanation
  • # (obsolete) To present an account of; to answer for, to justify.
  • #
  • # To estimate, consider (something to be as described).
  • #* 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), , III.8:
  • The Pagan Hercules, why was he accounted a hero?
  • # To consider (that).
  • #* 1611 , Bible , Authorized (King James) Version, Hebrews XI.19:
  • Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
  • # To give a satisfactory evaluation (for) financial transactions, money received etc.
  • An officer must account with or to the treasurer for money received.
  • # To give a satisfactory evaluation (for) (one's actions, behaviour etc.); to answer (for).
  • We must account for the use of our opportunities.
  • # To give a satisfactory reason (for); to explain.
  • Idleness accounts for poverty.
  • # To establish the location (for) someone.
  • After the crash, not all passengers were accounted for.
  • # To cause the death, capture, or destruction of someone or something (+ (for)).
  • to count
  • #
  • #* 1646 , (Sir Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica :
  • neither the motion of the Moon, whereby moneths are computed; nor of the Sun, whereby years are accounted , consisteth of whole numbers, but admits of fractions, and broken parts, as we have already declared concerning the Moon.
  • # (obsolete) To count (up), enumerate.
  • # (obsolete) To recount, relate (a narrative etc.).
  • #* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.6:
  • Long worke it were / Here to account the endlesse progeny / Of all the weeds that bud and blossome there [...].
  • Derived terms
    * account for * account of

    Statistics

    *