agent

pronunciation

How to pronounce agent in British English: UK [ˈeɪdʒənt] word uk audio image

How to pronounce agent in American English: US [ ˈeɪdʒənt] word us audio image

Noun:

an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect
a substance that exerts some force or effect
a representative who acts on behalf of other persons or organizations
a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission
any agent or representative of a federal agency or bureau
the semantic role of the animate entity that instigates or causes the hapening denoted by the verb in the clause

Word Origin

agent: agent: [15] Latin agere, a verb of great semantic breadth (‘drive, lead, act, do’), has been a prolific source of English words. Its past participle, āctus, produced act, action, active, actor, actual, cachet, and exact, while other parts of its paradigm lie behind agile, agitate, ambiguous, coagulate, cogent, cogitate, examine, exigent, exiguous, and prodigal.Its most obvious offspring, however, are agent (literally ‘(person) doing something’) and agency, formed from the Latin present participial stem agent-. Agere itself is of considerable antiquity, being related to other Indo-European verbs such as Greek ágein ‘drive, lead’, Old Norse aka ‘travel in a vehicle’, and Sanskrit ájati ‘drives’.=> act, agile, ambiguous, cachet, cogent, demagogue, exact, examine, prodigal

agent (n.): late 15c., "one who acts," from Latin agentem (nominative agens) "effective, powerful," present participle of agere "to set in motion, drive, lead, conduct" (see act (n.)). Meaning "any natural force or substance which produces a phenomenon" is from 1550s. Meaning "deputy, representative" is from 1590s. Sense of "spy, secret agent" is attested by 1916.