Definitions for agent
ˈeɪ dʒəntagent

Princeton's WordNet(4.00 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. agent(noun)

   an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect

   "their research uncovered new disease agents"

2. agent(noun)

   a representative who acts on behalf of other persons or organizations

3. agent(noun)

   a substance that exerts some force or effect

4. agent, factor, broker(noun)

   a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission

5. agent, federal agent(noun)

   any agent or representative of a federal agency or bureau

6. agentive role, agent(noun)

   the semantic role of the animate entity that instigates or causes the happening denoted by the verb in the clause

GCIDE(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Agent(n.)

   (Biochem., Med.) a chemical substance having biological effects; a drug.

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. agent(Noun)

   One who exerts power, or has the power to act; an actor.

   Etymology: From agens, present participle of ago

2. agent(Noun)

   One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by authority from him; one intrusted with the business of another; a substitute; a deputy; a factor.

   Etymology: From agens, present participle of ago

3. agent(Noun)

   An active power or cause; that which has the power to produce an effect; as, a physical, chemical, or medicinal agent; as, heat is a powerful agent.

   Etymology: From agens, present participle of ago

4. agent(Noun)

   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 u201Cintelligent agentu201D 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.

   Etymology: From agens, present participle of ago

5. agent(Noun)

   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".

   Etymology: From agens, present participle of ago

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Agent(adj)

   acting; -- opposed to patient, or sustaining, action

   Etymology: [L. agens, agentis, p. pr. of agere to act; akin to Gr. to lead, Icel. aka to drive, Skr. aj. 2.]

2. Agent(noun)

   one who exerts power, or has the power to act; an actor

   Etymology: [L. agens, agentis, p. pr. of agere to act; akin to Gr. to lead, Icel. aka to drive, Skr. aj. 2.]

3. Agent(noun)

   one who acts for, or in the place of, another, by authority from him; one intrusted with the business of another; a substitute; a deputy; a factor

   Etymology: [L. agens, agentis, p. pr. of agere to act; akin to Gr. to lead, Icel. aka to drive, Skr. aj. 2.]

4. Agent(noun)

   an active power or cause; that which has the power to produce an effect; as, a physical, chemical, or medicinal agent; as, heat is a powerful agent

   Etymology: [L. agens, agentis, p. pr. of agere to act; akin to Gr. to lead, Icel. aka to drive, Skr. aj. 2.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Agent

   In linguistics, a grammatical agent is the cause or initiator of an event. Agent may also be the name of the thematic role. The word comes from the present participle agens, agentis of the Latin verb agere, to "do" or "make".

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Agent

   āj′ent, n. a person or thing that acts or exerts power: any natural force acting on matter: one authorised or delegated to transact business for another.—n. Ag′ency, the office or business, operation or action, of an agent; instrumentality.—Law agent, a general term in Scotland, including Writers to the Signet, Solicitors to the Supreme Court, and Procurators in the sheriff courts—the requirements are an indentured apprenticeship of five years to a law agent, the passing of examinations in general knowledge and in law, and formal admission by the Court of Session. [L. agĕre, to do. See Act.]

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. agent

   In intelligence usage, one who is authorized or instructed to obtain or to assist in obtaining information for intelligence or counterintelligence purposes.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. agent

   In physics, expresses that by which a thing is done or effected.--Navy agent is a deputy employed to pass accounts, transact business, and receive pay or other monies, in behoof of the officers and crew, and to apply the proceeds as directed by them.--Agent victuallers, officers appointed to the charge of provisions at our foreign ports and stations, to contract for, buy, and regulate, under the authority of the commissioners of the navy. (See NEGLIGENCE.)--Prize agent, one appointed for the sale of prizes, and nominated in equal numbers by the commander, the officers, and the ship's company.

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. agent

   A person that represents a business, company or organization.

   The customer service agent was helpful, understanding and kind.

   Submitted by MaryC on March 15, 2020  

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'agent' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2379

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'agent' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3013

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'agent' in Nouns Frequency: #590

Anagrams for agent »

1. Tegan

How to pronounce agent?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say agent in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of agent in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of agent in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of agent in a Sentence

1. John Adams:

   Liberty, according to my metaphysics, is an intellectual quality, an attribute that belongs not to fate nor chance. Neither possesses it, neither is capable of it. There is nothing moral or immoral in the idea of it. The definition of it is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power; it can elect between objects, indifferent in point of morality, neither morally good nor morally evil.

2. Marco Rubio:

   We know that for the better part of this year Assad has been using chlorine bombs against innocent civilians and population centers, and now ... a couple days ago, a nerve agent, sarin.

3. Mrinal Patnaik:

   I trained in the early 2000s, when there was not a single oral agent for the management of AML, one of my professors had told me that AML was akin to a warlike situation where sometimes, you had to bomb the village in order to save it. We would throw these drugs that would kill everything and hope patients would recover with normal bone marrow.

4. Neil Basu:

   We are not in a position to say whether the nerve agent was from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to, the possibility that these two investigations might be linked is clearly a line of enquiry for us.

5. Jason McDonald:

   The lab was working as part of a DOD effort to develop a new diagnostic test to identify biological threats, although an inactivated agent was expected, the lab reported they were able to grow live Bacillus anthracis (anthrax).

Images & Illustrations of agent

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