different between influence vs agency

English

Etymology

From Middle English influence, from Old French influence (“emanation from the stars affecting one's fate”), from Medieval Latin ?nfluentia, from Latin ?nflu?ns (“flowing in”), present active participle of ?nflu? (“flow into”), from in- (“in-”) + flu? (“flow”). Doublet of influenza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n.flu.?ns/
• Hyphenation: in?flu?ence

Noun

influence (countable and uncountable, plural influences)

1. The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.

2. An action exerted by a person or thing with such power on another to cause change.

3. A person or thing exerting such power or action.

   • The animals were thoroughly frightened. It seemed to them as though Snowball were some kind of invisible influence, pervading the air about them and menacing them with all kinds of dangers.

4. (astrology) An element believed to determine someone's character or individual tendencies, caused by the position of the stars and planets at the time of one's birth.
5. (obsolete) The action of flowing in; influx.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     God hath his influence into the very essence of all things.

6. (electricity) Electrostatic induction.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "influence": cultural, political, social, economic, military, personal, moral, intellectual, mental, good, bad, positive, negative, beneficial, harmful, huge, big, heavy, significant, important, potential, actual, primary.

Hyponyms

• social influence

Derived terms

• influencer

Related terms

Translations

Verb

influence (third-person singular simple present influences, present participle influencing, simple past and past participle influenced)

1. (transitive) To have an effect on by using gentle or subtle action; to exert an influence upon; to modify, bias, or sway; to persuade or induce.

   The politician wants to influence the public.

   I must admit that this book influenced my outlook on life.

2. (intransitive) To exert, make use of one's influence.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to flow in or into; infuse; instill.

Derived terms

• influenceable
• influencer
• influencive

Related terms

• influent
• influential
• influenza, flu

Translations

French

Etymology

From Old French influence, borrowed from Medieval Latin ?nfluentia, from Latin ?nflu?ns (“flowing in”), present active participle of ?nflu? (“flow into”), from in- (“in-”) + flu? (“flow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.fly.??s/

Noun

influence f (plural influences)

1. influence

Derived terms

• zone d'influence

Related terms

Verb

influence

1. first-person singular present indicative of influencer
2. third-person singular present indicative of influencer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of influencer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of influencer
5. second-person singular imperative of influencer

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin ?nfluentia, from Latin ?nflu?ns (“flowing in”), present active participle of ?nflu? (“flow into”).

Noun

influence f (oblique plural influences, nominative singular influence, nominative plural influences)

1. inundation; flooding; influx of water
2. influence, especially viewed as a mystical force affecting one's fate

Descendants

• ? English: influence
• French: influence

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (influence, supplement)

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-