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agent

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Agent

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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    From Latin agēns, present active participle of agere (to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do).

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈeɪ̯d͡ʒənt/, [ˈeɪ̯d͡ʒənt] ~ [ˈeɪ̯d͡ʒn̩t]
    • Hyphenation: a‧gent

    Noun

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    agent (plural agents)

    1. One who exerts power, or has the power to act.
      • 1862, Brigham Young, “Call for Teams to Go to the Frontiers, etc.”, in Journal of Discourses, volume 9:
        Seeing we are so wonderfully endowed with priceless gifts by our Heavenly Father, will he not require usury at our hands? He will. But he has made us agents to ourselves, which makes us responsible for the way in which we use the talents he has given us, for the manner we expend the gold and silver, the wheat and fine flour, the cattle upon a thousand hills, and the wine and oil, for they all belong to Him
    2. (law) 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.
      He worked as an agent for the government.
      • 1851 November 14, 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.
      • 2024 April 22, Jeanne Sahadi, “What a buyer’s agent will do for you when you’re looking for a new home”, in CNN Business[1], archived from the original on 18 January 2025:
        Having a good buyer’s agent also means having someone who is knowledgeable about the local real estate market and who has the skills and competence to negotiate with the seller’s agent on your behalf.
    3. A person who looks for work for another person and brokers a deal between the hiree and hirer.
      • 2016 June 4, Press Association, “Ronald Koeman’s agent says Dutchman has agreed terms with Everton”, in The Guardian[2], archived from the original on 22 June 2021:
        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.
    4. 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).
      • Paragraph 4, Public Prosecutor v Yue Mun Yew Gary [2012] SGHC 188
        @Gary, are you a PAP agent? ... =) trying to incite rebellion and revolution on this site so that the govt will have an excuse to take down this site?
    5. 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."
      • 2025 June 13, Rhys Southan, Helena Ward, Jen Semler, “A timing problem for instrumental convergence”, in Philosophical Studies, Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC:
        Agents are means-rational insofar as they effectively pursue the goals they currently have—but means-rationality (even under a narrow-scope interpretation) does not prohibit agents from changing their goals or dropping them entirely.
    6. (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.
    7. (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".
      Antonym: patient
      Coordinate terms: subject, object; rheme, theme
      Near-synonym: doer
      • 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.
    8. (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.
    9. (US) A law enforcement officer tasked with enforcing a specific field of law.
      The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officers are just simply referred to as "ATF agents".
      • 2025 January 26, Priscilla Alvarez, Rosa Flores, “Trump administration launches nationwide immigration enforcement blitz”, in CNN[3], archived from the original on 9 March 2025:
        In the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, ICE agents arrested Walter Valladares, a 53-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras, according to family members who spoke with CNN.
    10. (usually US, capitalized) A respectful term of address for an agent, especially a law enforcement agent.

    Synonyms

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    Antonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    See also

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    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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    Azerbaijani

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from Russian аге́нт (agént).

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): [ɑˈɟent], [ɑˈɟ͡ʝent]

    Noun

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    agent (definite accusative agenti, plural agentlər)

    1. agent

    Declension

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    Declension of agent
    singular plural
    nominative agentagentlər
    definite accusative agentiagentləri
    dative agentəagentlərə
    locative agentdəagentlərdə
    ablative agentdənagentlərdən
    definite genitive agentinagentlərin
    Possessive forms of agent
    nominative
    singular plural
    mənim (my) agentim agentlərim
    sənin (your) agentin agentlərin
    onun (his/her/its) agenti agentləri
    bizim (our) agentimiz agentlərimiz
    sizin (your) agentiniz agentləriniz
    onların (their) agenti or agentləri agentləri
    accusative
    singular plural
    mənim (my) agentimi agentlərimi
    sənin (your) agentini agentlərini
    onun (his/her/its) agentini agentlərini
    bizim (our) agentimizi agentlərimizi
    sizin (your) agentinizi agentlərinizi
    onların (their) agentini or agentlərini agentlərini
    dative
    singular plural
    mənim (my) agentimə agentlərimə
    sənin (your) agentinə agentlərinə
    onun (his/her/its) agentinə agentlərinə
    bizim (our) agentimizə agentlərimizə
    sizin (your) agentinizə agentlərinizə
    onların (their) agentinə or agentlərinə agentlərinə
    locative
    singular plural
    mənim (my) agentimdə agentlərimdə
    sənin (your) agentində agentlərində
    onun (his/her/its) agentində agentlərində
    bizim (our) agentimizdə agentlərimizdə
    sizin (your) agentinizdə agentlərinizdə
    onların (their) agentində or agentlərində agentlərində
    ablative
    singular plural
    mənim (my) agentimdən agentlərimdən
    sənin (your) agentindən agentlərindən
    onun (his/her/its) agentindən agentlərindən
    bizim (our) agentimizdən agentlərimizdən
    sizin (your) agentinizdən agentlərinizdən
    onların (their) agentindən or agentlərindən agentlərindən
    genitive
    singular plural
    mənim (my) agentimin agentlərimin
    sənin (your) agentinin agentlərinin
    onun (his/her/its) agentinin agentlərinin
    bizim (our) agentimizin agentlərimizin
    sizin (your) agentinizin agentlərinizin
    onların (their) agentinin or agentlərinin agentlərinin

    Derived terms

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    Further reading

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    Catalan

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    Catalan Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia ca

    Etymology

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      Borrowed from Latin agentem. First attested in the 14th century.[1]

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      agent m or f by sense (plural agents)

      1. agent

      Derived terms

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      References

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      1. ^ agent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

      Further reading

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      Chinese

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      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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      From English agent.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      agent

      1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) sales agent; broker

      Crimean Tatar

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      Etymology

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      Latin agentis (acting).

      Noun

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      agent

      1. agent

      Declension

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      Declension of agent
      nominative agent
      genitive agentniñ
      dative agentke
      accusative agentni
      locative agentte
      ablative agentten

      Derived terms

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      References

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      • Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002), Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎[5], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

      Czech

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      Etymology

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      First attested in the 18th century.[1]

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      agent m anim

      1. agent, spy (someone who works for an intelligence agency)
      2. agent, representative (someone who represents a company)

      Declension

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      Noun

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      agent m anim or m inan

      1. (computing) agent (program that acts on someone's behalf)

      Declension

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      when animate:

      when inanimate:

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      References

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      1. ^ Rejzek, Jiří (2015), “agent”, in Český etymologický slovník [Czech Etymological Dictionary] (in Czech), 3rd (revised and expanded) edition, Praha: LEDA, →ISBN, page 48

      Further reading

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      Danish

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      Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia da

      Etymology

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      From Latin agēns.

      Noun

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      agent c (singular definite agenten, plural indefinite agenter)

      1. agent (all senses)

      Declension

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      Declension of agent
      common
      gender
      singular plural
      indefinite definite indefinite definite
      nominative agent agenten agenter agenterne
      genitive agents agentens agenters agenternes

      Synonyms

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      Derived terms

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      References

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      Dutch

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      Etymology

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      Borrowed from French agent, from Latin agēns (one who acts).

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      agent m (plural agenten, diminutive agentje n, feminine agente)

      1. a police officer
        Toen confisceerde de agent de wiet en rookte het in één keer op.
        Then the police officer confiscated the weed and smoked it all in one go.
        Synonym: politieman
        1. a police officer of the low(est) rank, constable, junior officer
          Synonym: politieagent
      2. an undercover agent; intelligence officer, secret agent
      3. an agent (one who acts on behalf of another)
        1. a broker
          Synonym: makelaar
        2. a middleman, surrogate

      Derived terms

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      Descendants

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      • Afrikaans: agent
      • Caribbean Javanese: akhèn
      • Indonesian: agen

      Anagrams

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      French

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      Etymology

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      Inherited from Middle French agent, from Latin agentem.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      agent m (plural agents, feminine agente)

      1. agent

      Derived terms

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      Descendants

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      Further reading

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      Anagrams

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      Italian

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      Etymology

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      Unadapted borrowing from English agent.

      Noun

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      agent m (invariable, feminine agente)

      1. agent

      Anagrams

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      Kashubian

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      Etymology

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        Borrowed from Polish agent.

        Pronunciation

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        Noun

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        agent m inan (female equivalent agentka)

        1. (espionage) agent (someone who works for an intelligence agency)
          Synonym: szpijona
        2. (business) representative (company agent)
          Synonyms: przedstawicél, przedstôwca
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        Further reading

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        • Jan Trepczyk (1994), “agent”, in Słownik polsko-kaszubski (in Kashubian), volumes 1–2
        • Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “agent”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi[6]
        • agent”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

        Latin

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        Pronunciation

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        Verb

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        agent

        1. third-person plural future active indicative of agō

        Norwegian Bokmål

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        Etymology

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        From Latin agens, genitive agentis.

        Noun

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        agent m (definite singular agenten, indefinite plural agenter, definite plural agentene)

        1. an agent

        References

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        Norwegian Nynorsk

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        Etymology

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        From Latin agens, genitive agentis.

        Noun

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        agent m (definite singular agenten, indefinite plural agentar, definite plural agentane)

        1. an agent

        References

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        Polish

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        Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
        Wikipedia pl

        Etymology

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          Borrowed from German Agent.[1][2] First attested in 1609.[3] Doublet of agens.

          Pronunciation

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          Noun

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          agent m pers (female equivalent agentka, diminutive agencik or agenciak)

          1. (espionage) agent (someone who works for an intelligence agency)
            Synonyms: szpieg, wywiadowca
          2. commission agent (agent entrusted with the possession of goods to be sold in the agent's name)
            Synonym: ajent
          3. (business) representative (company agent)
            Synonym: przedstawiciel
          4. (acting, literature) impresario, literary agent
            agent literackia literary agent
          5. (espionage) officer, peeper, secret agent
            Synonyms: cichociemny, tajniak
          6. (Middle Polish) legal defense assistant [from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 18th century][3]
            agent trybunałua tribunal assistant

          Declension

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          Derived terms

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          adjective

          Collocations

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          References

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          1. ^ Mirosław Bańko; Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021), “agent”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
          2. ^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000), “agent”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
          3. 3.0 3.1 Teresa Sokołowska (21.05.2009), “AGENT”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]

          Further reading

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          Romanian

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          Alternative forms

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          Etymology

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          Borrowed from French agent.

          Pronunciation

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          Noun

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          agent m (plural agenți, feminine equivalent agentă)

          1. agent

          Declension

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          singular plural
          indefinite definite indefinite definite
          nominative-accusative agent agentul agenți agenții
          genitive-dative agent agentului agenți agenților
          vocative agentule agenților

          Further reading

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          Scots

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          Alternative forms

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          Etymology

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          From Latin agēns, present active participle of agere (to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do).

          Pronunciation

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          • IPA(key): /ˈeːdʒənt/, /ˈɑː-/

          Noun

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          agent (plural agents)

          1. (law) solicitor

          Verb

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          agent (third-person singular simple present agents, present participle agentin, simple past and past participle agentit)

          1. to act as law agent

          References

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          Serbo-Croatian

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          Etymology

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          From Latin agēns, present active participle of agere (to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do).

          Pronunciation

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          • IPA(key): /ǎɡent/
          • Hyphenation: a‧gent

          Noun

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          àgent m anim (Cyrillic spelling а̀гент)

          1. agent

          Declension

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          Declension of agent
          singular plural
          nominative àgent agenti
          genitive agenta àgenātā
          dative agentu agentima
          accusative agenta agente
          vocative agente agenti
          locative agentu agentima
          instrumental agentom agentima

          References

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          • agent”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

          Swedish

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          Pronunciation

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          Noun

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          agent c

          1. an agent

          Declension

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          See also

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          Anagrams

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          Tatar

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          Noun

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          agent

          1. Latin spelling of агент (agent)