Dictionary

agent

see also: Agent

Etymology

From Latin agēns, present active participle of agere.

Pronunciation

IPA: /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒənt/, /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɛnt/

Noun

agent (plural agents)

One who exerts power, or has the power to act.
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.
- 1851 November 13, Herman Melville, chapter 36, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC ↗:
  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.
A person who looks for work for another person and brokers a deal between the hiree and hirer.
- 4 June 2016, Press Association, Ronald Koeman’s agent says Dutchman has agreed terms with Everton ↗
  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.
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).
An active power or cause or substance; something (e.g. biological, chemical, thermal, etc.) that has the power to produce an effect.
- 1807, James Edward Smith, chapter 11, in An introduction to physiological and systematical botany:
  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."
(computing) 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.
(grammar) 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".
Coordinate terms: patient; subject, object, rheme, theme
- 2009, Tarsee Li, The Verbal System of the Aramaic of Daniel: An Explanation in the Context of Grammaticalization, page 58:
  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.
(gambling) A cheat who is assisted by dishonest casino staff.
- 1978, John Scarne, Scarne's guide to casino gambling, page 108:
  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.
(usually, US, capitalized) A respectful term of address for an agent, especially a non-police law enforcement agent.