different between agency vs means

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin agentia, from Latin ag?ns (present participle of agere (“to act”)), agentis (cognate with French agence, see also agent).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?.d??n.si/

Noun

agency (countable and uncountable, plural agencies)

1. The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.

   Synonyms: action, activity, operation

   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, especially Minerals, &c

     A few advances there are in the following papers tending to assert the superintendence and agency of Providence in the natural world.

2. (sociology, philosophy, psychology) The capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.

   Coordinate terms: free will, structure

   • 2001, Todd McGowan, The Feminine "No!", SUNY Press (?ISBN), page 105:

     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.

   • 2012, Edmund V. Sullivan, A Critical Psychology, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 75:

     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.

   • 2013, Andy Clark, Julian Kiverstein, Tillmann Vierkant, Decomposing the Will, Oxford University Press (?ISBN), page 112:

     The feeling of being in control of one's body should involve the sense of body-ownership, plus an additional sense of agency.

3. A medium through which power is exerted or an end is achieved.

   Synonyms: instrumentality, means

4. The office or function of an agent; also, the relationship between a principal and that person's agent.

5. An establishment engaged in doing business for another; also, the place of business or the district of such an agency.

   Synonym: management

   Hyponyms: advertising agency, dating agency, employment agency, escort agency, introduction agency, modelling agency, news agency, press agency, relief agency, syndication agency, travel agency

   • 2012, Simon Toms, The Impact of the UK Temporary Employment Industry in Assisting Agency Workers since the Year 2000, Cambridge Scholars Publishing (?ISBN), page 277:

     As an employment agency you have a responsibility to supply work to the individual agency worker, as well as a service to the client.

6. A department or other administrative unit of a government; also, the office or headquarters of, or the district administered by such unit of government.

   Hyponyms: antitrust agency, intelligence agency, space agency

Related terms

• act
• action
• agent

Translations

Further reading

• agency in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• agency on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• agency (sociology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• agency (philosophy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• law of agency on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• moral agency on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• structure and agency on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Cagney, gynæc-

English

Etymology

See mean (“method or course of action used to achieve some result”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi?nz/
• Rhymes: -i?nz

Noun

means

1. plural of mean

means (plural means)

1. An instrument or condition for attaining a purpose.

   A car is a means of transport.

means pl (plural only) (uncountable)

1. Resources; riches.

   He was living beyond his means.

Usage notes

Frequently contrasted with end (“goal”), as in “a means to an end”. Similar contrast is process vs. product.

Synonyms

• wherewithal

Translations

Verb

means

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of mean

Anagrams

• Mensa, Seman, amens, manes, manse, mensa, mesna, names, namés, neams, ñames

Latin

Etymology

Present active participle of me? (“go along, traverse”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?me.ans/, [?meä??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?me.ans/, [?m???ns]

Participle

me?ns (genitive meantis); third-declension one-termination participle

1. going along, passing, traversing

Declension

Third-declension participle.

¹When used purely as an adjective.