1. The condition of being in action; operation.
2. The means or mode of acting; instrumentality.
3. A business or service authorized to act for others: an employment agency.
4. An administrative division of a government or international body.

[Medieval Latin agentia, from Latin agēns, agent-, present participle of agere, to do. See agent.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.