agency

Plural

agencies

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

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

2. 2.The capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.

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

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

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

Overall

Common· #785

By learning goal

Everyday conversation

Rare

General reading & writing

Common

Academic

Uncommon

Literature

Rare

Synonyms

• authority
• bureau
• office

Word family

• age