agenda
Americannoun
noun
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Also called: agendum. (functioning as singular) a schedule or list of items to be attended to
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Also called: agendas. agendums. (functioning as plural) matters to be attended to, as at a meeting of a committee
Usage
Agenda, “things to be done,” is the plural of the Latin gerund agendum and is used today in the sense “a plan or list of matters to be acted upon.” In that sense it is treated as a singular noun; its plural is usually agendas: The agenda is ready for distribution. The agendas of last year's meetings are printed in the official minutes. The singular agendum, meaning “an item on an agenda,” is rare.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of agenda
First recorded in 1745–55; from Latin, plural of agendum “that which is to be done,” gerund of agere “to do, drive”; the plural originally carried a collective sense denoting the various items to be transacted
Explanation
An agenda is a list of things to do. If you're going to attend a meeting with a long agenda, you'll want to take your coffee mug along. The word agenda is the plural for of the Latin word agendum, which literally means "something to be done." The noun retains this meaning because an agenda is a plan — organized by time — of events or things to do. You might have a meeting, a lunch date, and a doctor's appointment on your agenda for the day. And when you run for office, you better have a political agenda — or a plan for what you want to get done if elected.
Vocabulary lists containing agenda
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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President Trump's Second State of the Union Address (2019)
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Legend
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In an interview with BBC News NI, Mac Cionnaith said that if any talks were to take place with the Orange Order, residents of Garvaghy Road should set the agenda.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
"It should be up to the host community to set the agenda, not the visitors," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Dombrovskis' comments come as Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors are opening a second day of meetings with issues like economic "imbalances" on the agenda.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Mamdani remains popular and influential, commanding high approval numbers from likely voters and acting as a kingmaker for candidates who can enact his affordability agenda.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Like Madison in 1790, he wanted slavery off the American political agenda.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Families pay a $10 annual instructional fee for the agendas.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Ricci went viral for taking viewers behind the closed doors of his family’s quarterly money meetings, all the way down to agendas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The two candidates for California governor came to Sacramento offering policy agendas that were both sweeping and vague.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Describing the closure as "cruel", Varney said the products the company sells are a luxury item that falls off consumers' agendas once cost pressures strike, and people stick to the essentials.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
Instead, he headed up to sit on the stage with the officers and handed the leftover agendas to the person he sat next to.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
Principal agendum of the pages standing at the rostrum steps was to lift the train of each ascending delegate with combined dexterity, good timing and discretion.
From Time Magazine Archive
The next most important agendum was the division of reparations so far received, a matter complicated by profits derived from the Ruhr occupation, seizures made, deliveries in kind received, etc.
From Time Magazine Archive
But a principal agendum of the conference is the limitation of submarines.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Accusative of the Gerund is used only with Prepositions, chiefly ad and in to denote purpose; as,— homō ad agendum nātus est, man is born for action.
From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett
Locus ad agendum amplissimus: A place very honourable to plead in.
From The Comic Latin Grammar A new and facetious introduction to the Latin tongue by John Leech
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
