agency

Bridgezipf 4.87

Pronunciation

/ˈeɪdʒənsɪ/(AY-jun-see)

Part of speech

nounneutral

Chinese

自主能动性；机构（自主行动的能力；专门的组织机构）

Definition

The capacity to act independently and make free choices; an organisation providing a particular service; a government department.

Word family

  • agent/ˈeɪdʒənt/(n)代理人；动因
  • agential/eɪˈdʒɛnʃəl/(adj)— formal/philosophical

Collocations

  • human agency
  • sense of agency
  • exercise agency
  • government agency
  • news agency
  • advertising agency
  • lack of agency

Examples

  1. 1.Giving employees genuine agency over their work — rather than just the appearance of it — significantly increases engagement.
  2. 2.The regulatory agency was given new powers to impose fines for non-compliance with data protection rules.

Synonyms

  • autonomy/ɔːˈtɒnəmɪ/— self-governance
  • independence/ˌɪndɪˈpɛndəns/— freedom from control
  • power/ˈpaʊə/— the capacity to act

Etymology

from Latin "agentia" = power of doing, from "agere" (to do, to drive)