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:
It was also seen as a sign of the ability of Miliband in particular, but this government in general, to drive its agenda through the civil service machine.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
It hasn’t proved it can implement such an agenda in a way that will remain popular, a much harder task.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
The agenda item for the Continuum of Care board meeting Wednesday said applications would be due Sept. 24.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
A prize that requires consensus among people who disagree about nearly everything is harder to pull toward any one agenda than a prize administered by allies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
She’d said she just wanted to check in with me, but then she’d immediately pushed the candy dish my way, so I knew there was a heavy topic on the agenda.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
"It came to power very much on a programme to bring down crime and energy prices. And crime and petrol prices have come down, so those issues no longer top voters' agendas," Teorell said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
The agendas also contained a distorted periodic table, unreadable phases of the moon and other garbled educational material that parents suspect may have been created using artificial intelligence.
From Salon ● 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
The so-called alignment problem, or AIs developing their own agendas and deciding to eliminate humanity?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 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
But a principal agendum of the conference is the limitation of submarines.
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
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
Their main agendum was to pronounce their complete independence of men.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, November 10, 1920 by Sir Owen Seaman
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.
