agency
noun
Simple meaning
Being in action or exerting power.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ayjuhnseeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈeɪdʒənsi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An establishment engaged in doing business for another; also, the place of business or the district of such an agency.
The state of being in action or exerting power
The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.
A department or other administrative unit of a government; also, the office or headquarters of, or the district administered by, such unit of government.
The office or function of an agent; also, the relationship between a principal and that person's agent.
A medium through which power is exerted or an end is achieved.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The state of being in action or exerting power
Used this way, agency is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A security issued by United States government agencies or the Farm Credit System.
An agency that designs advertisement to call public attention to its clients.
Any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results.
An independent agency of the United States government responsible for collecting and coordinating intelligence and counterintelligence activities abroad in the national interest.
An administrative unit responsible for social work concerned with the welfare and vocational training of children.
An organization that provides businesses with credit ratings of other firms.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: establishment engaged in doing business for another
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.