Agency

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: a=gen=cy

CIDE DICTIONARY

Agency, n. [agentia, fr. L. agens, agentis: cf. F. agence. See Agent.].

•  The faculty of acting or of exerting power; the state of being in action; action; instrumentality.  [1913 Webster]

  "The superintendence and agency of Providence in the natural world."  [1913 Webster]
•  The office of an agent, or factor; the relation between a principal and his agent; business of one intrusted with the concerns of another.  [1913 Webster]
•  The place of business of am agent.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Action; operation; efficiency; management.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Agency, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a the business or establishment of an agent (employment agency). b the function of an agent.
2 a active operation; action (free agency). b intervening action (fertilized by the agency of insects). c action personified (an invisible agency).
3 a specialized department of the United Nations.

Etymology

med.L agentia f. L agere do

THESAURUS

Agency

action, activity, agent, agentship, antecedent, assignment, atelier, authority, authorization, barbershop, barter, bartering, beauty parlor, beauty shop, bench, brevet, brokerage, butcher shop, buying and selling, care, cause, change, channel, charge, commission, commissioning, commitment, commutation, company, concern, conduct, consignment, corporation, cure, dealing, delegated authority, delegation, deputation, deputyship, desk, determinant, device, devolution, devolvement, direction, displacement, doing business, driving, embassy, empowerment, energy, entrusting, entrustment, errand, establishment, exchange, execution, executorship, exequatur, exercise, expedient, facility, factorship, firm, force, full power, functioning, gear, give-and-take, going between, handling, horse trading, house, installation, institution, instrumentality, instrumentation, intercession, interchange, intermediation, intervention, jobbing, jurisdiction, legation, license, lieutenancy, loft, machinery, management, mandate, manipulation, means, mechanism, mediation, medium, merchandising, ministry, mission, occupation, office, operancy, operation, organ, organization, parlor, performance, performing, plenipotentiary power, power, power of attorney, power to act, practice, procuration, proxy, purview, quid pro quo, recourse, regency, regentship, replacement, representation, resort, responsibility, retailing, running, service, shop, steering, studio, subrogation, substitution, supersedence, superseding, supersedure, supersession, supplantation, supplanting, supplantment, swapping, sweatshop, switch, task, tit for tat, trade, trading, trafficking, trust, trusteeship, vehicle, vicarious authority, vicariousness, warrant, wheeling and dealing, wholesaling, work, work site, work space, workbench, workhouse, working, working space, workings, workplace, workroom, workshop, worktable

ROGET THESAURUS

Agency

Instrumentality

N instrumentality, aid, subservience, subserviency, mediation, intervention, medium, intermedium, vehicle, hand, agency, minister, handmaid, midwife, accoucheur, accoucheuse, obstetrician, gobetween, cat's-paw, stepping-stone, opener, key, master key, passkey, latchkey, open sesame, passport, passe-partout, safe-conduct, password, instrument, expedient, means, instrumental, useful, ministerial, subservient, mediatorial, intermediate, intervening, conducive, through, by, per, whereby, thereby, hereby, by the agency of, by dint of, by virtue of, in virtue of, through the medium of, along with, on the shoulders of, by means of, by the aid of, with the aid of, per fas et nefas, by fair means or foul, somehow, somehow or other, by hook or by crook.

Use

N use, employ, employment, exercise, exercitation, application, appliance, adhibition, disposal, consumption, agency, usufruct, usefulness, benefit, recourse, resort, avail, utilization, service, wear, usage, in use, used, well-worn, well-trodden, useful, subservient.

Action

N action, performance, doing perpetration, exercise, excitation, movement, operation, evolution, work, labor, praxis, execution, procedure, handicraft, business, agency, deed, act, overt act, stitch, touch, gest transaction, job, doings, dealings, proceeding, measure, step, maneuver, bout, passage, move, stroke, blow, coup, coup de main, coup d'etat, tour de force, feat, exploit, achievement, handiwork, workmanship, manufacture, stroke of policy, actor, doing, acting, in action, in harness, on duty, in operation, in the act, in the midst of, in the thick of, red-handed, in flagrante delicto, while one's hand is in, action is eloquence, actions speak louder than words, actum aiunt ne agas, awake, arise, or be forever fall'n, dii pia facta vident, faire sans dire, fare fac, fronte capillata post est occasio calva, our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts, the great end of life is not knowledge but action, thought is the soul of act, vivre-ce nest pas respirer c'est agir, we live in deeds not years.

Direction

N direction, management, managery, government, gubernation, conduct, legislation, regulation, guidance, bossism, legislature, steerage, pilotage, reins, reins of government, helm, rudder, needle, compass, guiding star, load star, lode star, pole star, cynosure, supervision, superintendence, surveillance, oversight, eye of the master, control, charge, board of control, command, premiership, senatorship, director, chair, portfolio, statesmanship, statecraft, kingcraft, queencraft, ministry, ministration, administration, stewardship, proctorship, agency, director, directing, hegemonic, at the helm, at the head of, direction, bearing, course, vector, set, drift, tenor, tendency, incidence, bending, trending, dip, tack, aim, collimation, steering steerage, point of the compass, cardinal points, North East, South, West, N by E, ENE, NE by N, NE, rhumb, azimuth, line of collimation, line, path, road, range, quarter, line of march, alignment, allignment, air line, beeline, straight shoot, directed, directed towards, pointing towards, bound for, aligned, with alligned with, direct, straight, undeviating, unswerving, straightforward, North, Northern, Northerly, towards, on the road, on the high road to, en avant, versus, to, hither, thither, whither, directly, straight as an arrow, forwards as an arrow, point blank, in a bee line to, in a direct line to, as the crow flies, in a straight line to, in a bee line for, in a direct line for, in a straight line for, in a bee line with, in a direct line with, in a straight line with, in a line with, full tilt at, as the crow flies, before the wind, near the wind, close to the wind, against the wind, windwards, in the wind's eye, through, via, by way of, in all directions, in all manner of ways, quaquaversum, from the four winds, the shortest distance between two points is a stra.

Commission

N commission, delegation, consignment, assignment, procuration, deputation, legation, mission, embassy, agency, agentship, power of attorney, clerkship, surrogacy, errand, charge, brevet, diploma, exequatur, permit, appointment, nomination, designation, return, charter, ordination, installation, inauguration, investiture, swearing-in, accession, coronation, enthronement, vicegerency, regency, regentship, viceroy, consignee, deputy, agent, delegate, consignee, commissioned, per procurationem.

Agency

N agency, operation, force, working, strain, function, office, maintenance, exercise, work, swing, play, interworking, interaction, procurement, causation, instrumentality, influence, action, modus operandi, quickening power, maintaining power, sustaining power, home stroke, operative, efficient, efficacious, practical, effectual, at work, on foot, acting, in operation, in force, in action, in play, in exercise, acted upon, wrought upon, by the agency of through, by means of, I myself must mix with action lest I wither by des.