agent
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒənt/
Forms: form: agents
Etymology: From Latin agēns, present active participle of agere (“to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do”).
Senses: examples: text: Seeing we are so wonderfully endowed with priceless gifts by our Heavenly Father, will he not require usury at our hands? He will. But he has made us agents to ourselves, which makes us responsible for the way in which we use the talents he has given us, for the manner we expend the gold and silver, the wheat and fine flour, the cattle upon a thousand hills, and the wine and oil, for they all belong to Him
ref: 1862, Brigham Young, “Call for Teams to Go to the Frontiers, etc.”, in Journal of Discourses, volume 9:
glosses: One who exerts power, or has the power to act.
examples: text: He worked as an agent for the government.
text: I see in him [Moby Dick] outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 36, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
text: Having a good buyer’s agent also means having someone who is knowledgeable about the local real estate market and who has the skills and competence to negotiate with the seller’s agent on your behalf.
ref: 2024 April 22, Jeanne Sahadi, “What a buyer’s agent will do for you when you’re looking for a new home”, in CNN Business:
glosses: One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by that person's authority; someone entrusted to act on behalf of or in behalf of another, such as to transact business for them.
examples: text: Ronald Koeman has agreed a deal with Everton to become their new manager, his agent has reportedly told Dutch media. The agent Rob Jansen said, according to the popular Voetbal International website, that it was now down to Southampton and Everton to agree a compensation package for the Dutchman, who has a year remaining on his contract at St Mary’s.
ref: 2016 June 4, Press Association, “Ronald Koeman’s agent says Dutchman has agreed terms with Everton”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A person who looks for work for another person and brokers a deal between the hiree and hirer.
examples: text: @Gary, are you a PAP agent? ... =) trying to incite rebellion and revolution on this site so that the govt will have an excuse to take down this site?
ref: Paragraph 4, Public Prosecutor v Yue Mun Yew Gary [2012] SGHC 188
text: In the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, ICE agents arrested Walter Valladares, a 53-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras, according to family members who spoke with CNN.
ref: 2025 January 26, Priscilla Alvarez and Rosa Flores, “Trump administration launches nationwide immigration enforcement blitz”, in CNN:
glosses: Someone who works for an intelligence agency: whether an officer or employee thereof or anyone else who agrees to help their efforts (for ideology, for money, as blackmailee, or otherwise).
examples: text: So far seems to be the work of chemistry alone; at least we have no right to conclude that any other agent interferes; since hay, when it happens to imbibe moisture, exhibits nearly the same processes."
ref: 1807, James Edward Smith, chapter 11, in An introduction to physiological and systematical botany:
text: Agents are means-rational insofar as they effectively pursue the goals they currently have—but means-rationality (even under a narrow-scope interpretation) does not prohibit agents from changing their goals or dropping them entirely.
ref: 2025 June 13, Rhys Southan, Helena Ward, Jen Semler, “A timing problem for instrumental convergence”, in Philosophical Studies, Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC:
glosses: An active power or cause or substance; something (e.g. biological, chemical, thermal, etc.) that has the power to produce an effect.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server. Especially in the phrase “intelligent agent” it implies some kind of autonomous process which can communicate with other agents to perform some collective task on behalf of one or more humans.
examples: text: Near-synonym: doer
text: A verb is typically described as active when its subject is the agent or actor. By contrast, a verb is said to be passive when the subject does not perform the action, but is the patient, target, or undergoer of the action.
ref: 2009, Tarsee Li, The Verbal System of the Aramaic of Daniel: An Explanation in the Context of Grammaticalization, page 58:
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
antonyms: patient
coordinate_terms: subject
object
;
rheme
theme
glosses: The participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation, e.g. "the boy" in the sentences "The boy kicked the ball" and "The ball was kicked by the boy".
examples: text: Nevada casinos are fleeced out of millions of dollars yearly by agents (cheats acting as players) in collusion with crooked Black Jack dealers and pit bosses.
ref: 1978, John Scarne, Scarne's guide to casino gambling, page 108:
topics: gambling
games
glosses: A cheat who is assisted by dishonest casino staff.
examples: text: Steve Haines (Robert Bogue): Agent Sanchez! Apprehend these suspects!
ref: 2013, Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto V, scene: Standoff between Michael de Santa and Steve Haines, level/area: The Wrap Up:
glosses: A respectful term of address for an agent, especially a non-police law enforcement agent.
Synonyms: sense: person who looks for work for another person
word: manager
sense: person who looks for work for another person
word: representative
sense: person who looks for work for another person
word: rep
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: actor
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: performer
Derived terms: agented
agentese
agentess
agent-general
agent general
agenthood
agential
agentic
agenticity
agenting
agentive
agentless
agentlike
agent noun
Agent Orange
agent-oriented
agent participle
agentry
agentship
agentspace
antibacterial agent
anticaking agent
anti-caking agent
anti-foaming agent
antimicrobial agent
baggage agent
bargain agent
binding agent
bioagent
bleaching agent
blister agent
blowing agent
bonding agent
book agent
bulking agent
casting agent
catalytic agent
change agent
chelating agent
chemical agent
chemoagent
clarifying agent
cleaning agent
clearing agent
coagent
coating agent
colour retention agent
contract agent
contrast agent
count agent
counteragent
counting agent
crown agent
cyberagent
double agent
dry agent
drying agent
enforcement agent
estate agent
firming agent
flavoring
flavouring agent
flour treatment agent
foaming agent
foreign agent
free agent
gelling agent
glazing agent
immunoagent
improving agent
Indian agent
infeasible agent
infectious agent
innocent agent
insurance agent
intelligence agent
intelligent agent
interagent
land agent
law agent
leavening agent
lifting agent
mail user agent
monoagent
moral agent
multiagent
multi-agent system
nanoagent
nerve agent
nettle agent
newsagent
nonagent
oxidising agent
oxidizing agent
parliamentary agent
press agent
principal-agent problem
processing agent
purchasing agent
raising agent
real estate agent
reducing agent
road-agent
road agent
sales agent
secret agent
select agent
service agent
shipping agent
shopping agent
sleeper agent
sourcing agent
special agent
structuring agent
subagent
superagent
surfactant
teachable agent
thickening agent
ticket agent
transfer agent
travel agent
triple agent
underagent
user agent
voluntary agent
wetting agent
whitening agent
Related terms: act
action
agency
proxy