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

The initial burst also illustrates how a relatively small number of high-profile accounts can set the agenda for a much larger audience.

From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026

Europe will use the gathering to hammer home its pro-AI agenda.

From Barron's ● 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

Katie Wilson’s progressive agenda has been hobbled by a string of violence, a budget deficit and turmoil inside City Hall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Turner was very quiet through the Old Business but sat forward when they came to the only item on the agenda under the New Business: “The status of Reverend Turner Buckminster.”

From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt

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

My opinion is very useful to many agendas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 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

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

Civil rights advocates pursued their own agendas as unelected representatives of communities defined by race and displayed considerable skill navigating courtrooms and halls of power across America.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

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

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

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

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

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Related Words

• calendar
• plan
• program
• schedule
• timetable

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