agent
- 01 B1 Intermediate
a person who acts for another person or business, especially to help them with work or legal matters.
a person authorized to act for or in place of another, known as the principal, in business or legal transactions.
Simple“The real estate agent showed us three different houses in the city center.”
In context“The athlete's agent negotiated a multi-year contract that included significant performance bonuses and image rights clauses.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B1 Intermediate
a person who works for a government's secret service or a specific police department.
an official employed by a government intelligence agency or a specialized law enforcement department.
Simple“In the movie, the secret agent had to stop a dangerous criminal.”
In context“Federal agents conducted a coordinated raid on the warehouse after months of surveillance and undercover work.”
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
a chemical or biological substance that causes a specific effect or change.
a substance or force that produces a biological, chemical, or physical effect.
Simple“Soap is a cleaning agent that helps remove grease from your hands.”
In context“The researchers identified a specific chemical agent in the soil that was preventing the local crops from growing properly.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
a computer program that acts on your behalf to perform tasks automatically.
an autonomous or semi-autonomous computer program that performs tasks on behalf of a user or another program.
Simple“The smart software agent finds the cheapest flights for you automatically.”
In context“Intelligent agents within the network monitor traffic patterns to optimize data routing and prevent server congestion during peak hours.”
- 05 C1 Advanced
the person or thing in a sentence that performs the action.
the semantic role of the entity that instigates or performs the action of the verb.
Simple“In the sentence 'The chef cooked the meal', the chef is the agent.”
In context“In passive constructions, the agent is often expressed in a prepositional phrase starting with 'by' or is omitted entirely.”
Usage active agent · external agent
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Latin agēnsder. English agent From Latin agēns, present active participle of agere (“to drive, lead, conduct, manage, perform, do”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.