Roget's Thesaurus: Entry 170 (Agency)

Make sure you have read the copyright information for this Project Gutenberg thesaurus, as well as the description of the thesaurus.

#170. Agency.-- N. agency, operation, force, working, strain, function, office, maintenance, exercise, work, swing, play; interworking[obs], interaction; procurement.

causation &c. 153; instrumentality &c. 631; influence &c. 175; action &c. (voluntary) 680; modus operandi &c. 627.

quickening power, maintaining power, sustaining power; home stroke.

V. be -in action &c. adj.; operate, work; act, act upon; perform, play, support, sustain, strain, maintain, take effect, quicken, strike.

come play, come bring into operation; have play, have free play; bring to bear upon.

Adj. operative, efficient, efficacious, practical, effectual.

at work, on foot; acting &c. (doing) 680; in operation, in force, in action, in play, in exercise; acted upon, wrought upon.

Adv. by the -agency &c. n.- of; through &c. (instrumentality) 631; by means of &c. 632.

Phr. "I myself must mix with action lest I wither by despair" [Tennyson].