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If one party is an agent for another party, what is the counterpart role called, i.e. what is the role of the party of whom the first party is an agent, in a commercial context? In other words,

  • "employee": "employer"
  • "buyer": "seller"
  • "driver": "passenger"
  • "agent": ?

I've looked for antonyms, but this is isn't exactly an antonym. I considered options like "controlling organization" or "parent", but the first is too wordy and the second isn't specific to agency. An example in a sentence would be "Joe became an agent of the soft drink distributor. This is the only ___ for which he is an agent." The intended use of this word is in a list of roles that parties can play in a relationship, in a programming context. A compound word would be acceptable, provided that it's still relatively short.

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  • Thanks for reviewing my question. Could you help me understand how to make it better?
    – Scott Deerwester
    Commented Feb 7 at 15:21
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    Not the standard prinicipal?
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Feb 7 at 15:24
  • That'll work! Thanks!
    – Scott Deerwester
    Commented Feb 7 at 15:27
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    Yes, agent and pricipal in a legal document or context. But also: agent and seller. Or: agent and distributor. agent can have several meanings when collocated...
    – Lambie
    Commented Feb 7 at 15:35
  • There can also be agent and client.
    – Barmar
    Commented Feb 7 at 20:07

1 Answer 1

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As already stated by Mr Baskin in a comment, the general term sought by the OP is principal.

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  • Upvoted coz it's true. But it is different to the other terms in that 98% of native English-language speakers are not familiar with the term. Those 98% would, if pressed, and after scratching their heads for precisely 7 minutes and 23 seconds, presume that the correct answer is "client". Sadly.
    – mike rodent
    Commented Feb 7 at 20:55
  • @mikerodent, while it may be true that only a small percentage of English speakers at large are familiar with this sense of principal, it is also true that only a very small percentage of English speakers will ever need to discuss principal-agent relationships in general. Most of those who need to discuss such matters are probably familiar with the term. For that matter, the use of agent for agents in general is also rare; most of its use in everyday contexts is within the terms for specific kinds of agents, such as travel agent or real-estate agent.
    – jsw29
    Commented Feb 8 at 20:59

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