# agent

/ˈeɪdʒənt/ (US) · /ˈeɪdʒənt/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/agent
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. business representative

noun · CEFR B1

a person who acts for another person or business, especially to help them with work or legal matters.

For teachers: a person authorized to act for or in place of another, known as the principal, in business or legal transactions.

- The real estate agent showed us three different houses in the city center.
- The athlete's agent negotiated a multi-year contract that included significant performance bonuses and image rights clauses.

### 2. intelligence or police officer

noun · CEFR B1

a person who works for a government's secret service or a specific police department.

For teachers: an official employed by a government intelligence agency or a specialized law enforcement department.

- In the movie, the secret agent had to stop a dangerous criminal.
- Federal agents conducted a coordinated raid on the warehouse after months of surveillance and undercover work.

### 3. active substance

noun · CEFR B2 · Technical

a chemical or biological substance that causes a specific effect or change.

For teachers: a substance or force that produces a biological, chemical, or physical effect.

- Soap is a cleaning agent that helps remove grease from your hands.
- The researchers identified a specific chemical agent in the soil that was preventing the local crops from growing properly.

### 4. software process

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a computer program that acts on your behalf to perform tasks automatically.

For teachers: an autonomous or semi-autonomous computer program that performs tasks on behalf of a user or another program.

- The smart software agent finds the cheapest flights for you automatically.
- Intelligent agents within the network monitor traffic patterns to optimize data routing and prevent server congestion during peak hours.

### 5. grammatical doer

noun · CEFR C1 · Academic · Technical

the person or thing in a sentence that performs the action.

For teachers: the semantic role of the entity that instigates or performs the action of the verb.

- In the sentence 'The chef cooked the meal', the chef is the agent.
- In passive constructions, the agent is often expressed in a prepositional phrase starting with 'by' or is omitted entirely.

## Examples

- The travel agent booked our flights and hotel for the summer trip.
- After reading the first three chapters of the manuscript, the literary agent offered to represent the author.
- Under the law of agency, the agent must act in the best interests of the principal and avoid any conflicts of interest that could compromise their fiduciary duty.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.