call to account

1. Challenge or contest, as in The IRS is bound to call us to account on these deductions . [First half of 1800s]

2. Hold answerable, as in One day soon we'll be called to account for the child's behavior : [Mid-1500s]

Example Sentences

They don’t return for a bow, as if this had not been a performance but a call to account.

From New York Times

Nearly a year later, Hoteit, a spokesperson for families of more than 200 people who died in the disaster, is still trying to call to account those he says are responsible for allowing the accident to happen.

From Reuters

Einhorn said if lawmakers wanted to understand “why GameStop did what it did ... it would be better to call to account the absentee regulators and their philosophical backers.”

From Reuters

During a 1922 speech, he said, “We must call to account the November criminals of 1918. It cannot be that two million Germans should have fallen in vain and that afterwards one should sit down as friends at the same table with traitors. No, we do not pardon, we demand — Vengeance!”

From Washington Post

How something can be prideful and at the same time call to account the nation that you’re writing about.

From New York Times