different between agent vs action

English

Etymology

From Latin ag?ns, present active participle of agere (“to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?.d??nt/, /?e?.d??nt/

Noun

agent (plural agents)

1. One who exerts power, or has the power to act
2. One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by that person's authority; someone entrusted to do the business of another
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick Chapter 36

     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.

3. A person who looks for work for another person
   • 4 June 2016, Press Association, Ronald Koeman’s agent says Dutchman has agreed terms with Everton

     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
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, An introduction to physiological and systematical botany/Chapter 11

     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."

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.
8. (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".
   • 2009, Tarsee Li, The Verbal System of the Aramaic of Daniel: An Explanation in the Context of Grammaticalization, p. 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.

9. (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.

Synonyms

• (one who exerts power): See also Thesaurus:doer
• (one who acts in place of another): See also Thesaurus:deputy
• (person who looks for work for another person): manager, representative, rep
• (someone who works for an intelligence agency): See also Thesaurus:spy
• (grammar): actor, performer

Antonyms

• (grammar): patient, recipient, undergoer

Derived terms

Related terms

• act
• action
• agency

Translations

See also

• proxy

Further reading

• agent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• agent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Tegan, ganté, genta

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin ag?ns, attested from the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /???ent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /???en/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /a?d??ent/

Noun

agent m or f (plural agents)

1. agent

Derived terms

• agent doble
• agent secret

Related terms

• agència

References

Further reading

• “agent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “agent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “agent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Latin agentis (“acting”).

Noun

agent

1. agent

Declension

Derived terms

• agentlik

References

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajins?ko-kryms?kotatars?kyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]?^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, ?ISBN

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?a??nt]

Noun

agent m

1. agent (someone who works for an intelligence agency)

Related terms

• See akt
• agentura

Further reading

• agent in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• agent in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

From Latin ag?ns.

Noun

agent c (singular definite agenten, plural indefinite agenter)

1. agent (all senses)

Declension

Synonyms

• spion

Derived terms

See also

• agens
• kommissionær
• repræsentant
• subjekt

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French agent, from Latin ag?ns (“one who acts”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a????nt/
• Hyphenation: a?gent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

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

1. a police officer, cop;

   Synonym: politieagent

   1. as low(est) rank, constable

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

• agentschap
• beursagent

Related terms

• agens

Descendants

• Afrikaans: agent
• ? Indonesian: agen

Anagrams

• gaten

French

Etymology

From Middle French agent, from Latin ag?ns, agentis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.???/

Noun

agent m (plural agents, feminine agente)

1. agent

Derived terms

Related terms

• agence

Descendants

• ? Turkish: ajan

Further reading

• “agent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• étang
• gante, ganté
• géant
• gênât

Italian

Noun

agent m (plural agent, feminine agente)

1. agent

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?a.?ent/, [?ä??n?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?a.d??ent/, [???d???n?t?]

Verb

agent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of ag?

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin agens, genitive agentis

Noun

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

1. an agent

References

• “agent” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “agent” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin agens, genitive agentis

Noun

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

1. an agent

References

• “agent” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From French agent, from Middle French agent, from Latin ag?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a.??nt/

Noun

agent m pers (feminine agentka)

1. (espionage) agent (someone who works for an intelligence agency)

   Synonyms: szpieg, wywiadowca

2. (law) 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
5. (espionage) officer, peeper, secret agent

   Synonyms: cichociemny, tajniak

Declension

Related terms

• (nouns) agentura, agenturka
• (adjectives) agenturowy, agenturalny

Further reading

• agent in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• agent in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Alternative forms

• aghent

Etymology

From French agent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [a?d?ent]

Noun

agent m (plural agen?i, feminine equivalent agent?)

1. agent

Declension

Further reading

• agent in DEX online - Dic?ionare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Latin ag?ns, present active participle of agere (“to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ent/
• Hyphenation: a?gent

Noun

àgent m (Cyrillic spelling ??????)

1. agent

Declension

References

• “agent” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

agent c

1. an agent

Declension

Related terms

• agentfilm
• agentkontor
• agentprovision
• agentroman
• agentskap
• agentur
• agentverksamhet
• handelsagent

See also

• aktör
• ombud

References

• agent in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• agnet, genat, tagen, tagne

Tatar

Noun

agent

1. Latin spelling of ????? (a?ent)

English

Etymology

From Middle English accion, from Old French aucion,acciun, from Latin ?cti? (“act of doing or making”), from ?ctus, perfect passive participle of ag? (“do, act”), + action suffix -i?; see act.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æk.??n/
• Rhymes: -æk??n
• Hyphenation: ac?tion

Noun

action (countable and uncountable, plural actions)

1. Something done, often so as to accomplish a purpose.
2. A way of motion or functioning.

3. Fast-paced activity.

4. A mechanism; a moving part or assembly.

5. (music) The mechanism, that is the set of moving mechanical parts, of a keyboard instrument, like a piano, which transfers the motion of the key to the sound-making device.
6. (music) The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on a guitar.
7. (slang) Sexual intercourse.

8. (military) Combat.

9. (law) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio).
10. (mathematics) A mapping from a pairing of mathematical objects to one of them, respecting their individual structures. The pairing is typically a Cartesian product or a tensor product. The object that is not part of the output is said to act on the other object. In any given context, action is used as an abbreviation for a more fully named notion, like group action or left group action.
11. (physics) The product of energy and time, especially the product of the Lagrangian and time.
12. The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events.
13. (art, painting and sculpture) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
14. (bowling) spin put on the bowling ball.
15. (obsolete) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds.
    • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. IV, ch. 106:

      So saying he presented him with two actions of above two thousand livres each.

    • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

      the Euripus of funds and actions

Synonyms

• (something done): deed; see also Thesaurus:action

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• ? German: Action
• ? Russian: ???? (ekšn)

Translations

See also

• deed
• Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

References

• action on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Interjection

action!

1. Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually a performance.

   Antonym: cut

Translations

Verb

action (third-person singular simple present actions, present participle actioning, simple past and past participle actioned)

1. (transitive, management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.
2. (transitive, chiefly archaic) To initiate a legal action against someone.

Usage notes

• The verb sense action is rejected by some usage authorities.

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989
• Notes:

Further reading

• action in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• action in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Catino, actino-, atonic, cation, cation-?

French

Etymology

From Old French acciun, aucion, etymologically reconstructed in Middle French to resemble the Latin acti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak.sj??/
• Homophone: axion

Noun

action f (plural actions)

1. action, act, deed

2. campaign

3. stock, share

4. (Switzerland) a special offer

Derived terms

Further reading

• “action” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• cation, contai

Interlingua

Noun

action (plural actiones)

1. action

Related terms

• active
• activitate

Middle English

Noun

action

1. Alternative form of accion

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French acciun, aucion, etymologically reconstructed to resemble the Latin acti?.

Noun

action f (plural actions)

1. action; act

Descendants

• French: action

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English accion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak???n/

Noun

action (plural actions)

1. action

Verb

action (third-person singular present actions, present participle actionin, past actiont, past participle actiont)

1. to action

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.