Agency Meaning
/ˈeɪ.d͡ʒən.si/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.
nounThe capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.
Sentence Examples
Where's the nearest travel agency?
"Manpower" is the world's largest temp agency.
She works for an advertising agency.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government ____ is responsible for environmental protection.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I used a travel ____ to help me plan my vacation to Japan.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Medieval Latin agēns Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Medieval Latin -ius Medieval Latin -ia Medieval Latin agēntiabor. English agency From Medieval Latin agentia, from Latin agēns (present participle of agere (“to act”)), agentis (cognate with French agence, see also agent).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A few advances there are in the following papers tending to assert the superintendence and agency of Providence in the natural world."
— 1695, John Woodward, “(please specify the page)”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC:
"Because structure in this argument means institutions— pregiven norms, values, beliefs, and practices— it is open-textured, incomplete, cannot guarantee its own applications, therefore, all behavior is action, has agency (Garfinkel 1964; Strauss et al. 1963)."
— 2018, Morris Zelditch, Status, Power, and Legitimacy, page 65:
"Formally, capitalism performs its fundamental gesture—reappropriation without transformation. This bears on the question of subjective agency because this “reappropriation without transformation” is exactly what agency seeks to avoid; such a process indicates, in fact, that one's agency has failed, that one really had no agency in the first place."
— 2001, Todd McGowan, The Feminine "No!", SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 105:
"Strictly speaking, at the level of personal agency one could say that power is a condition where one is “enabled.” I would contend that this is a condition of personal agency."
— 2012, Edmund V. Sullivan, A Critical Psychology, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 75:
"The feeling of being in control of one's body should involve the sense of body-ownership, plus an additional sense of agency."
— 2013, Andy Clark, Julian Kiverstein, Tillmann Vierkant, Decomposing the Will, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 112:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government ____ is responsible for environmental protection.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I used a travel ____ to help me plan my vacation to Japan.