Meaning & use
agent
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person or company that handles business for others, such as selling property or finding work for performers.
Grammar: Names the type: a travel agent, an estate agent.
Patterns
- agent for someone
- an agent of something
Her agent negotiated a better contract for the novel.
We booked the trip through a travel agent.
The insurance agent explained the policy.
nouncountable
A person who secretly gathers information for a government or works as part of a law enforcement body.
Grammar: Often with a modifier: secret agent, FBI agent.
Patterns
- an agent for something
- a federal agent
The agent followed the suspect through the train station.
A secret agent was sent to investigate the leak.
Federal agents arrested the smuggler.
nouncountabletechnical
A substance or force that causes a particular effect or change.
Grammar: Combines with another noun: a cleaning agent.
Patterns
- an agent of something
- a cleaning agent
Bleach is a powerful cleaning agent.
Wind is an agent of erosion.
The chemical acts as a bonding agent.
nouncountableformal
A person or thing that actively produces an effect or makes something happen.
Grammar: Often in the phrase agent of change.
Patterns
- an agent of change
Young voters can be agents of change.
She sees teachers as agents of social progress.
nouncountablecomputing
A software program that carries out tasks automatically for a user or system.
Grammar: Used in computing: a software agent.
Patterns
- a software agent
A software agent sorted my email overnight.
The support agent bot answered simple questions.
Word forms
| plural | agents |
|---|
Common combinations
- travel agent
- The travel agent found us a cheap flight.
- estate agent
- The estate agent showed us three houses.
- secret agent
- The film follows a secret agent in Berlin.
- agent of change
- The new director became an agent of change.
- cleaning agent
- Vinegar is a mild cleaning agent.
- literary agent
- Her literary agent sold the book abroad.
Synonyms and how they differ
- representative
- Representative speaks or acts for a group or company, with a more official feel.
- broker
- Broker arranges deals between two sides, usually in finance or insurance.
- spy
- Spy stresses secrecy, while agent can be an official working openly.
- operative
- Operative is a more formal word for a covert worker.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: agent or agency? agent or angel?
agent vs agency
An agency is the organization, while an agent is one person or thing working for it.
agent vs angel
Angel is a spiritual being and is unrelated, though the letters look similar.
Practice
The author asked her ____ to negotiate the publishing contract on her behalf.
Choose one answer.
An agent acts for someone in business matters. An opponent and a critic work against or comment, and a reader does not negotiate.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “agent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.