n.
- a person that provides a particular service, typically one organizing transactions between two other parties.
▸a person who manages financial or contractual matters for an actor, performer, or writer.
- a person who works in secret to obtain information for a government.
- a person or thing that takes an active role or produces a specified effect.
▸Grammar the doer of an action.
- Computing an independently operating program, typically one that performs background tasks such as information retrieval or processing on behalf of a user or other program.
Derivative
- agentive adj. (Grammar ).
Etymology
ME: from L. agent-, agere ‘to do’.
