What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Subject vs Agent - What's the difference?

subject | agent |

In grammar terms the difference between subject and agent

is that subject is in a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) that is dealt with. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same while agent is the participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation, e.g. "the boy" in the sentences "The boy kicked the ball" and "The ball was kicked by the boy".

As an adjective subject

is likely to be affected by or to experience something.

As a verb subject

is to cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.

subject

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Likely to be affected by or to experience something.
  • a country subject to extreme heat
  • * Dryden
  • All human things are subject to decay.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • Conditional upon.
  • Placed or situated under; lying below, or in a lower situation.
  • (Spenser)
  • Placed under the power of another; owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state.
  • * John Locke
  • Esau was never subject to Jacob.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) In a clause: the word or word group (usually a noun phrase) that is dealt with. In active clauses with verbs denoting an action, the subject and the actor are usually the same.
  • The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • the subject for heroic song
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Make choice of a subject , beautiful and noble, which shall afford an ample field of matter wherein to expatiate.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • the unhappy subject of these quarrels
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=5 citation , passage=Then I had a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette, and I was reluctantly bound to admit that once again the man in the corner had found the only possible solution to the mystery.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
  • , chapter=5, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=The departure was not unduly prolonged.
  • A particular area of study.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • A citizen in a monarchy.
  • A person ruled over by another, especially a monarch or state authority.
  • (label) The main theme or melody, especially in a fugue.
  • * (1823-1895)
  • The earliest known form of subject is the ecclesiastical cantus firmus , or plain song.
  • A human, animal or an inanimate object that is being examined, treated, analysed, etc.
  • * (Conyers Middleton) (1683-1750)
  • Writers of particular livesare apt to be prejudiced in favour of their subject .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field.}}

    Synonyms

    * (discussion) matter, topic

    Derived terms

    * subject title

    See also

    * object * predicate

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause (someone or something) to undergo a particular experience, especially one that is unpleasant or unwanted.
  • Synonyms

    *

    Statistics

    *

    agent

    English

    (wikipedia agent)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who exerts power, or has the power to act; an actor.
  • Heaven made us agents , free to good or ill. --Dryden.
  • One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by authority from him; one intrusted with the business of another; a substitute; a deputy; a factor.
  • I see in him [Moby Dick] outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent , or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. --Herman Melville, , ch. 36
  • An active power or cause; that which has the power to produce an effect; as, a physical, chemical, or medicinal agent ; as, heat is a powerful agent.
  • (computing) In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server. Especially in the phrase “intelligent agent” it implies some kind of autonomous process which can communicate with other agents to perform some collective task on behalf of one or more humans.
  • (grammar) The participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation, e.g. "the boy" in the sentences "The boy kicked the ball" and "The ball was kicked by the boy".
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * (grammar) patient

    Derived terms

    * Agent Orange * agent noun * anti-caking agent * antibacterial agent * anticaking agent * antimicrobial agent * bleaching agent * bonding agent * chelating agent * chemical agent * clarifying agent * cleaning agent * coating agent * double agent * firming agent * flavoring agent * flavouring agent * gelling agent * leavening agent * lifting agent * oxidizing agent * processing agent * purchasing agent * raising agent * reducing agent * secret agent * sourcing agent * structuring agent * thickening agent * travel agent * user agent * wetting agent * whitening agent

    See also

    * proxy

    Anagrams

    * ----