Agencies

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒən.siz/

Definitions

1. Entities that undertake particular duties or functions for clients or the public
2. Organizations that operate to manage, facilitate, or coordinate various tasks and services within a certain domain
3. Groups established to perform designated tasks or services for others ; administrative units of government managing public affairs

Etymology: The plural "agencies" is simply the plural of "agency," and the noun has a clear Latin lineage. It comes from Medieval Latin "agentia," formed from Latin "agens," the present participle of "agere," meaning "to act." The "agens" that gave English its "agent" is the same word, so an agency began as the state of being an actor, the doing of something, before it came to mean a means of acting. From that sense of acting came the modern one. Something or someone that acts on behalf of another, carrying out work for them, became an agency, and eventually the organisation that performs such work. The plural, "agencies," therefore names a set of these bodies, each one set up to do something for clients, the public or a government.

Synonyms: organizations, companies, firms, bureaus, departments