AGENCY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Agency

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/ˈeɪdʒənsi/ Listen

noun

agency n. (pl. agencies)

The faculty of acting or of exerting power; the state of being in action; action; instrumentality. "The superintendence and agency of Providence in the natural world."

The office of an agent, or factor; the relation between a principal and his agent; business of one intrusted with the concerns of another.

The place of business of an agent.

An organization or business that provides some service, primarily for other organizations; as, an advertising agency.

An administrative division of a government; as, a state welfare agency; a motor vehicle agency; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Synonyms: Action; operation; efficiency; management.

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Etymology of 'Agency'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Agency" Quotes from Famous Books

... Unemployment remains a serious problem, however, and job creation is the main focus of government policy. To ease unemployment, Dublin aggressively courts foreign investors and recently created a new industrial development agency to aid ...

— The 1998 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... and loose with us until the last minute. Relying on our undertaking not to molest foreigners he has resided in Damascus, making promises one day and breaking them the next, keeping his funds in Beirut and his agency here, draining money out of the country ...

— Affair in Araby • Talbot Mundy

... the infant, at birth, has not the power of generating heat, internally, to the extent which it possesses afterward. The lungs have as yet but a feeble, inefficient action. The purification of the blood, through their agency, is not only incomplete, but the heat evolved is as yet inconsiderable. In the absence of internal heat, then, there is an increased demand externally. If 60 be deemed suitable for most other persons, the new-born infant may, for a few days, ...

— The Young Mother - Management of Children in Regard to Health • William A. Alcott

... his amusement as he watched Wetherell's operations. "You'll spoil gran'ma," he remarked. "She'll be discontented with the agency doctor. I'm not discouragin' your massage operations, mind you, but I can't help thinking that she'll want clean towels, and an osteopath to stroke her back every morning, when she goes back ...

— They of the High Trails • Hamlin Garland

... I can only remember about these games that I was in the habit of getting very nervous over them, much more so than I did later on when I played matches of far more consequence. I joined a working men's golf club that had been formed, and it was through this agency that I won my first prize. A vase was offered for competition among the members, the conditions being that six medal rounds were to be played at the rate of one a month. When we had played five, I was leading by so very many strokes ...

— The Complete Golfer [1905] • Harry Vardon

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