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:
“Lufthansa Group is pursuing a clear strategic agenda: to support TAP Air Portugal’s growth while preserving its national identity and to sustainably strengthen Portugal’s connectivity, particularly with North and Latin America,” the group said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The post-match discussion with Maresca would certainly have had a busy agenda.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
But deep down, Iraola will know there is a lot of work to do and getting the big money signings to deliver will be high on his agenda.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
And the region's leaders pushed throughout the summit this week for oceans and climate finance to be top of the agenda at COP31, as well as maintaining the 1.5C target.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
I had that agenda I’d been assiduously maintaining since freshman year of college, stemming from the neat line of boxes I was meant to check.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Instead, the Tribune tracked the grants by reviewing the vehicle authority’s meeting records, as well as documents, agendas and discussions from 101 city councils and county commissions that approved or discussed Flock-related grants.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 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
With fiduciary responsibility, Mr. Reynolds says, “I think a lot of hidden agendas go away. Advice has to be in the client’s best interest, not motivated by a desire to run up the bill.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
But the alliance soon unravelled as they pursued divergent political agendas.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
In-mates are often shifted, with little notice, between facilities, ac-cording to obscure agendas of the Department.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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
To this perfection it is, therefore, bound, as the fundamental science, to attain, and to it the maxim may justly be applied: Nil actum reputans, si quid superesset agendum.
From The Critique of Pure Reason by John Miller Dow Meiklejohn
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.
