Reckon with means take a serious force or difficulty into account and be ready to deal with it: any new café here has the established bakery to reckon with. It's common in the negative: the organisers had not reckoned with local opposition, and they paid for it. A force to be reckoned with is someone you can't ignore, and that's praise.
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reckon with a difficulty / opponent; a force to be reckoned with
- The organisers had not reckoned with the strength of local opposition.
- Any new café here has the established bakery to reckon with.
- The young team is now a force to be reckoned with.
What changed
First versionThey had not reckoned the extra demand.
RevisionThey had not reckoned with the extra demand.
Expect and consider take their object directly, so had not reckoned the extra demand seems fine. But in this meaning reckon goes with with: had not reckoned with the extra demand.
Take into account means calmly consider a factor: we took the weather into account. Reckon with means face a serious force or difficulty: we hadn't reckoned with the storm. And plain I reckon is informal for 'I think': I reckon it'll rain.
Your turn
Complete the expression for taking a powerful factor seriously: We must reckon ___ the impact of winter weather.
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with — A serious factor you have to deal with is introduced by with: reckon with the impact. To doesn't work with reckon in this meaning.
Describe a plan that didn't reckon with something important: the weather, a rival or the crowds.
The festival planners had to reckon with a much larger crowd than last year.
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