Showing results for "agenda"

• plural of agendum.

agenda

American  

[uh-jen-duh] / əˈdʒɛn də /

noun

agendum, agendas, agenda

1. a list, plan, outline, or the like, of things to be done, matters to be acted or voted upon, etc..

   The chairman says we have a lengthy agenda this afternoon.

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agenda British  

/ əˈdʒɛndə /

noun

1. Also called: agendum. (functioning as singular) a schedule or list of items to be attended to

2. Also called: agendas, agendums. (functioning as plural) matters to be attended to, as at a meeting of a committee

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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

• agendaless
  adjective

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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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

agenda agendas agendum

Of course, fears of a grid failure are not new, but recent events such as the mass blackout in Spain, Portugal and south-western France in April 2025 have pushed it up the agenda.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

Even as Trump still plays the dominant role in US foreign policy, the size of Democrats' victory means they control the agenda in Congress, said political science professor Brian Taylor of Syracuse University.

From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026

Consumers in China are starting to wonder — for good reason — whether the emerging AI travel agents have a hidden agenda.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

“Voters probably are somewhere in the middle,” Grose said, “and there doesn’t seem to be a policy agenda that reaches those voters.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

He could not believe that a dignified body of sober-minded legislators were allowing these “shaking Quakers” with their throbbing consciences to control the national agenda.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Within Theodore Roosevelt’s muscular nationalism, these agendas advanced federal regulation amid Republican divisions over executive authority.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

In the poem “Usefulness,” which was originally published in the Yale Review, you speak of how Black Cubans exist at the nexus of two different political agendas: the pro- and anti-Revolution contingents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

"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 bizarre geography lesson appeared in student agendas distributed at Farnsley Middle School, part of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

After that, she’d sworn never to trust girls again, especially girls with agendas and power of their own.

From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas

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

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 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 Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Others are finer still Caesar's energy is rivalled by the line— "Nil actum credens dum quid superesset agendum."

From The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius by Charles Thomas Cruttwell

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Related Words

• calendar
• plan
• program
• schedule
• timetable

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