AGENCY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does agency mean? 

• AGENCY (noun)
  The noun AGENCY has 5 senses:

1. an administrative unit of government

2. a business or organization that provides a particular service, especially the mediation of transactions between two parties

3. the state of being in action or exerting power

4. the state of serving as an official and authorized delegate or agent

5. thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end

  Familiarity information: AGENCY used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AGENCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An administrative unit of government

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

agency; authority; bureau; federal agency; government agency; office

Context example:

Tennessee Valley Authority

Hypernyms ("agency" is a kind of...):

administrative body; administrative unit (a unit with administrative responsibilities)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agency"):

Advanced Research and Development Activity; ARDA (an agency of the Intelligence Community that conducts advanced research and development related to information technology)

independent agency (an agency of the United States government that is created by an act of Congress and is independent of the executive departments)

AFISR; Air Force Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance; Air Force ISR (an agency focused on ensuring that the United States military attains information superiority; operates worldwide ground sites and an array of airborne reconnaissance and surveillance platforms)

Air Force; U. S. Air Force; United States Air Force; US Air Force; USAF (the airforce of the United States of America; the agency that defends the United States through control and exploitation of air and space)

Marine Corps Intelligence Activity; MCIA (an agency of the United States Marine Corps that provides responsive and broad intelligence support for the worldwide Marine Corps organization)

Office of Naval Intelligence; ONI (the military intelligence agency that provides for the intelligence and counterintelligence and investigative and security requirements of the United States Navy)

Naval Underwater Warfare Center; NUWC (the agency that provides scientific and engineering and technical support for submarine and undersea warfare systems)

Naval Surface Warfare Center; NSWC (the agency that provides scientific and engineering and technical support for all aspects of surface warfare)

Naval Special Warfare; NSW (the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfare)

Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division; NAWCWPNS (the principal agency of the United States Navy for research and development for air warfare and missile weapon systems)

U. S. Coast Guard; United States Coast Guard; US Coast Guard (an agency of the Department of Transportation responsible for patrolling shores and facilitating nautical commerce)

Navy; United States Navy; US Navy; USN (the navy of the United States of America; the agency that maintains and trains and equips combat-ready naval forces)

GAO; Government Accounting Office; United States Government Accounting Office (an independent nonpartisan federal agency that acts as the investigative arm of Congress making the executive branch accountable to Congress and the government accountable to citizens of the United States)

Transportation Security Administration; TSA (an agency established in 2001 to safeguard United States transportation systems and insure safe air travel)

FAA; Federal Aviation Administration (an agency in the Department of Transportation that is responsible for the safety of civilian aviation)

Bureau of Diplomatic Security; DS (the bureau in the State Department that is responsible for the security of diplomats and embassies overseas)

Internal Revenue Service; IRS (the bureau of the Treasury Department responsible for tax collections)

National Guard Bureau; NGB (the agency that administers the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard; provides liaison between the Army and the Air Force and various National Guard units)

local authority (an administrative unit of local government)

Federal Housing Administration; FHA (the federal agency in the Department of Housing and Urban Development that insures residential mortgages)

Casualty Care Research Center; CCRC (an agency in the Department of Defense that is a national center for research on all aspects of injury control and casualty care)

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; NGA (a combat support agency that provides geographic intelligence in support of national security)

Defense Information Systems Agency; DISA (a combat support agency in the Department of Defense responsible for developing and operating and supporting information systems to serve the needs of the President and the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

Ballistic Missile Defense Organization; BMDO (an agency in the Department of Defense that is responsible for making ballistic missile defense a reality)

AI; Army Intelligence (an agency of the United States Army responsible for providing timely and relevant and accurate and synchronized intelligence to tactical and operational and strategic level commanders)

Army; U. S. Army; United States Army; US Army; USA (the army of the United States of America; the agency that organizes and trains soldiers for land warfare)

Defense Logistics Agency (a logistics combat support agency in the Department of Defense; provides worldwide support for military missions)

Government Printing Office; GPO; United States Government Printing Office; US Government Printing Office (an agency of the legislative branch that provides printing and binding services for Congress and the departments and establishments of the federal government)

Patent and Trademark Office Database; Patent Office (the government bureau in the Department of Commerce that keeps a record of patents and trademarks and grants new ones)

organ (a government agency or instrument devoted to the performance of some specific function)

Occupational Safety and Health Administration; OSHA (a government agency in the Department of Labor to maintain a safe and healthy work environment)

law enforcement agency (an agency responsible for insuring obedience to the laws)

Defense Technical Information Center; DTIC (the agency in the Department of Defense that provides scientific and technical information to federal agencies and their contractors)

Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service; DRMS (the organization in the Defense Logistics Agency that inventories and evaluates and sells reusable United States government surplus)

Bureau of Customs; Customs Bureau; Customs Service; USCB (the agency of the Treasury Department that enforces import tariffs)

executive agency (an agency of the executive branch of government)

FDA; Food and Drug Administration (a federal agency in the Department of Health and Human Services established to regulate the release of new foods and health-related products)

CDC; Center for Disease Control and Prevention (a federal agency in the Department of Health and Human Services; located in Atlanta; investigates and diagnoses and tries to control or prevent diseases (especially new and unusual diseases))

Counterterrorist Center; CTC (an agency that helps the Director of Central Intelligence coordinate counterterrorist efforts in order to preempt and disrupt and defeat terrorist activities at the earliest possible stage)

Nonproliferation Center; NPC (an agency that serves as the focal point for all Intelligence Community activities related to nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their missile delivery systems)

Bureau of the Census; Census Bureau (the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; NOAA (an agency in the Department of Commerce that maps the oceans and conserves their living resources; predicts changes to the earth's environment; provides weather reports and forecasts floods and hurricanes and other natural disasters related to weather)

National Climatic Data Center; NCDC (the part of NOAA that maintains the world's largest active archive of weather data)

National Weather Service (the federal agency in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is responsible for weather forecast and preparation of weather maps)

Technology Administration (an agency in the Department of Commerce that works with United States industries to promote competitiveness and maximize the impact of technology on economic growth)

National Institute of Standards and Technology; NIST (an agency in the Technology Administration that makes measurements and sets standards as needed by industry or government programs)

National Technical Information Service; NTIS (an agency in the Technology Administration that is a primary resource for government-funded scientific and technical and engineering and business related information)

DARPA; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (the central research and development organization for the United States Department of Defense; responsible for developing new surveillance technologies since 9/11)

Department of Defense Laboratory System; LABLINK (a defense laboratory that provides essential services in fundamental science for national security and environmental protection and provides technologies that contribute to industrial competitiveness)

PHS; United States Public Health Service (an agency that serves as the office of Surgeon General; includes agencies whose mission is to improve the public health)

Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the agency of the Treasury Department that produces currency)

Comptroller of the Currency (the agency of the Treasury Department responsible for controlling the currency)

Office of Intelligence Support; OIS (agency that oversees the intelligence relationships of the Treasury's offices and bureaus and provides a link between the Intelligence Community and officials responsible for international economic policy)

Financial Management Service (the federal agency in the Treasury Department that manages the government's disbursement and collection systems and provides central accounting and financial reporting)

National Park Service (an agency of the Interior Department responsible for the national parks)

FWS; United States Fish and Wildlife Service; US Fish and Wildlife Service (an agency in the Department of the Interior that conserves and protects fish and wildlife and their habitats; assesses the environmental impact of pesticides and nuclear power site and hydroelectric dams and thermal pollution)

Bureau of Intelligence and Research; INR (an agency that is the primary source in the State Department for interpretive analyses of global developments and focal point for policy issues and activities of the Intelligence Community)

Foreign Service (the part of the State Department that supplies diplomats for the United States embassies and consulates around the world)

United States Border Patrol; US Border Patrol (the mobile law enforcement arm of the Immigration and Naturalization Service that detects and prevents illegal entry of aliens into the United States)

Immigration and Naturalization Service; INS (an agency in the Department of Justice that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to the United States)

BJS; Bureau of Justice Statistics (the agency in the Department of Justice that is the primary source of criminal justice statistics for federal and local policy makers)

BJA; Bureau of Justice Assistance (the bureau in the Department of Justice that assists local criminal justice systems to reduce or prevent crime and violence and drug abuse)

National Institutes of Health; NIH (an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services whose mission is to employ science in the pursuit of knowledge to improve human health; is the principal biomedical research agency of the federal government)

Department of Energy Intelligence; DOEI (an agency that collects political and economic and technical information about energy matters and makes the Department of Energy's technical and analytical expertise available to other members of the Intelligence Community)

Instance hyponyms:

U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory; United States Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory; US Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory; USACIL (a defense laboratory of the Criminal Investigation Command; the United States Army's primary forensic laboratory in support of criminal intelligence)

Naval Research Laboratory; NRL (the United States Navy's defense laboratory that conducts basic and applied research for the Navy in a variety of scientific and technical disciplines)

AHPCRC; Army High Performance Computing Research Center (a United States defense laboratory to conduct research in high-performance computing for defense technology applications; a partnership of government and university and industry)

AFRL; Air Force Research Laboratory (a United States Air Force defense laboratory responsible for discovering and developing and integrating fighting technologies for aerospace forces)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A business or organization that provides a particular service, especially the mediation of transactions between two parties

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("agency" is a kind of...):

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern (a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agency"):

service agency; service bureau; service firm (a business that makes its facilities available to others for a fee; achieves economy of scale)

transfer agent (an agency (usually a bank) that is appointed by a corporation to keep records of its stock and bond owners and to resolve problems about certificates)

travel agency (an agency that arranges personal travel)

news agency; news organisation; news organization; press agency; press association; wire service (an agency to collects news reports for newspapers and distributes it electronically)

employment agency; employment office (an agency that finds people to fill particular jobs or finds jobs for unemployed people)

commercial agency; mercantile agency (an organization that provides businesses with credit ratings of other firms)

detective agency (an agency that makes inquiries for its clients)

credit bureau (a private firm that maintains consumer credit data files and provides credit information to authorized users for a fee)

ad agency; advertising agency (an agency that designs advertisement to call public attention to its clients)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The state of being in action or exerting power

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

she has free agency

Hypernyms ("agency" is a kind of...):

action; activeness; activity (the state of being active)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agency"):

Frankenstein (an agency that escapes control and destroys its creator)

Derivation:

agent (an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect)

agential (of or relating to an agent or agency)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The state of serving as an official and authorized delegate or agent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

agency; delegacy; representation

Hypernyms ("agency" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agency"):

free agency ((sports) the state of a professional athlete who is free to negotiate a contract to play for any team)

legal representation (personal representation that has legal status)

virus (a harmful or corrupting agency)

Derivation:

agent (a representative who acts on behalf of other persons or organizations)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

agency; means; way

Context example:

the true way to success

Hypernyms ("agency" is a kind of...):

effectuation; implementation (the act of implementing (providing a practical means for accomplishing something); carrying into effect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agency"):

escape (a means or way of escaping)

dint (interchangeable with 'means' in the expression 'by means of')

wings (a means of flight or ascent)

voice (a means or agency by which something is expressed or communicated)

tooth (a means of enforcement)

salvation (a means of preserving from harm or unpleasantness)

open sesame (any very successful means of achieving a result)

desperate measure (desperate actions taken as a means to an end)

expedient (a means to an end; not necessarily a principled or ethical one)

stepping stone (any means of advancement)

road (a way or means to achieve something)

instrument; tool (the means whereby some act is accomplished)

fast track (a rapid means of achieving a goal)

Derivation:

agential (of or relating to an agent or agency)

 Context examples 

The principle of "planetary defense," aimed at preventing the contamination of Earth by alien organisms and vice versa, is used by international space agencies during all interplanetary missions.

(Mutated Terrestrial Bacteria That Return from Space Pose Threat to Life on Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The minor difference in rankings is due to the different methods used by the two agencies to analyze global temperatures; though over the long term, the agencies’ records remain in strong agreement.

(2017 was 3rd warmest year on record for the globe, NOAA)

On October 11, 2019, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, announced the death of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.

(Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov dies at age 85, Wikinews)

The type of contact which describes the person designated by an applicant or sponsor to interact with regulatory agencies.

(Applicant Contact Type, Food and Drug Administration)

It serves as a common meeting ground for the many federal agencies that sponsor or directly conduct relevant work as well as state and local health authorities.

(National Cancer Policy Board, NCI Thesaurus)

A federal agency that uses science to explore complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices, trains CAM researchers, and provides authoritative information about CAM to professionals and the public.

(National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NCI Dictionary)

Public agencies can encourage promotional focus and in turn involvement in nutrition through appropriate communication.

(People with Positive Attitude More Likely to Eat Healthily, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A relatively nearby planetary system is structured remarkably like what ours probably looked like when it was young, the U.S. space agency NASA confirms.

(New Observation of Nearby Star System Confirms Similarity to Ours, VOA)

China’s space agency posted a photo online, showing tracks the rover left as it departed from the spacecraft.

(Chinese Rover Making Tracks on Dark Side of the Moon, VOA)

NASA scientists are tracking the upcoming Halloween flyby of asteroid 2015 TB145 with several optical observatories and the radar capabilities of the agency's Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California.

(Halloween Asteroid a Treat for Radar Astronomers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)