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:
As he starts his term as Fed chair, Warsh can’t count on the support of his fellow governors for his agenda, Bianco said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
He added: "We were able to partner with the bourbon industry in the United States, raise the issue with President Trump in the Oval Office, and get this issue on his agenda."
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Developers and business leaders say they assume Shorris will actively steer the city’s policy, since CEOs of the agency typically set the agenda.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Roth, the Green lawmaker, said that humanitarian aid would remain on the agenda.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Like Madison in 1790, he wanted slavery off the American political agenda.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
She has blamed people inside and outside Goldman who she believes have agendas against her, according to people familiar with the matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Things go in ways both expected and unexpected, the two couples warily feeling each other out as they wait to spring their own private agendas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
But the alliance soon unravelled as they pursued divergent political agendas.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
There is no natural or preordained alliance between these groups, and at crucial moments their interests and agendas may differ.
From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2026
Bruckner aside, most of Wagner’s contemporaries, while quick to assert his musical brilliance, were as at sea with the whole Wagner-and-the-future-of-all-art project as they were with the cultural agendas of his dramas.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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
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
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 Leech, John
The first is, that in his enterprises and engagements he would have thought nothing done, till all had been done that was possible:- Nil actum reputans, si quid superesset agendum.
From Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit and Some Miscellaneous Pieces by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
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.
