AGENDA, DIARY

AGENDA, DIARY

An agenda is a list of things that people want to discuss or deal with at a meeting.

1. It was possible to place it on the agenda for discussion by the next international congress.
2. Among the major topics on the summit agenda: interest rates.

A diary is a book that has a blank space or page for each day of the year. You use a diary for writing down arrangements or appointments or your comments on what has happened on a particular day.

3. He scribbled an appointment for 10.30 in his desk diary.
4. My diary tells me that summer begins on 22nd June.

• Sometimes agenda is used to refer to important matters that are being widely discussed, especially by politicians. You will most often find it being used in this way by journalists.

Telecommunications has moved to the top of the political agenda.

Other words

Many people no longer use ordinary diaries, but have ‘personal organizers’. These have sections that deal with the separate areas in someone’s life, for example their special interests, their personal accounts, or important telephone numbers. People sometimes call a personal organizer a ‘Filofax’; ‘Filofax’ is a trademark.