Other forms: agents
An agent is somebody who acts on behalf of another. An estate agent, a literary agent, acting as an agent.
In law an agent binds a principal by acting within their authority, which is what makes agency a whole area of law. In everyday use it covers estate agents, travel agents, literary agents and sports agents. A secret agent is a spy. Chemically, an agent is anything that produces an effect: a cleaning agent, a raising agent. Note agency; and that the Latin means simply one who does.
1nounagentSomebody who acts on behalf of another.~82%
“The actor's agent negotiated a much bigger fee for his next film.”
2nounsubstanceA substance that produces an effect.~18%
“Add a raising agent, like baking powder, to make the cake rise.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 11 sentences found in the wild and placed 11 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
agent is one who acts for another.
Latin agens is the present participle of agere, to do or drive. Act, agenda, agile and exact come from the same doing.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eǵ-
Latin
agēns
English, today
agent
Built from
From Latin agēns. From Latin agēns, present active participle of ago (“to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA