different between structure vs agency

English

Etymology

From Middle French structure, from Latin struct?ra (“a fitting together, adjustment, building, erection, a building, edifice, structure”), from struere, past participle structus (“pile up, arrange, assemble, build”). Compare construct, instruct, destroy, etc.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?st??kt??(?)/, [?st??kt??(?)]
• (US) IPA^(key): /?st??kt??/

Noun

structure (countable and uncountable, plural structures)

1. A cohesive whole built up of distinct parts.

   Synonym: formation

2. The underlying shape of a solid.

   Synonym: formation

3. The overall form or organization of something.

   Synonyms: makeup, configuration; see also Thesaurus:composition

4. A set of rules defining behaviour.

5. (computing)  Several pieces of data treated as a unit.

6. (fishing, uncountable)  Underwater terrain or objects (such as a dead tree or a submerged car) that tend to attract fish

7. A body, such as a political party, with a cohesive purpose or outlook.

8. (logic)  A set along with a collection of finitary functions and relations.

Derived terms

• antistructure

Translations

Verb

structure (third-person singular simple present structures, present participle structuring, simple past and past participle structured)

1. (transitive) To give structure to; to arrange.

Translations

Related terms

• infrastructure
• macrostructure
• microstructure
• restructure
• structural
• structuralism
• structuralist
• structured
• substructure
• superstructure
• unstructured

Further reading

• structure on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Latin structura

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?yk.ty?/
• Rhymes: -y?
• Homophone: structures

Noun

structure f (plural structures)

1. structure

   Le plain-chant est la paraphrase aérienne et mouvante de l'immobile structure des cathédrales. (Huysmans, En route, 1895)

Synonyms

• agencement
• disposition
• ordre
• organisation

Antonyms

• anarchie
• chaos

Derived terms

• infrastructure
• structural
• structuralisme
• structuraliste
• structurant
• structuration
• structurer
  • déstructurer
  • restructurer
• structuration
• structure de données
• structurel
• structurellement
• substructure
• superstructure

References

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

Further reading

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

Latin

Participle

str?ct?re

1. vocative masculine singular of str?ct?rus

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-