English Explanatory Dictionary

attend

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb

Senses relating to caring for or waiting on someone, or accompanying or being present.
To care for (someone requiring attention); specifically, of a doctor, nurse, etc.: to provide professional care to (someone).
To wait on (someone or their instructions) as an attendant, servant, etc.; also (specifically of a gentleman-in-waiting or lady-in-waiting to a member of royalty), to accompany (someone) in order to assist or wait upon them; to escort.
To be present at (an event or place) in order to take part in some action or proceedings; also, to regularly go to (an event or place).
To take action with respect to (someone, or something such as a concern, problem, or task); to deal with, to handle.
Of a (chiefly immaterial) thing: to be consequent to or present with (someone or something); to accompany.
To look after (someone or something); to tend.
Followed by to: to look after someone or something.
To be ready to wait upon someone or their instructions as an attendant, servant, etc.; also (followed by on or upon), to accompany someone in order to assist or wait upon them.
Followed by at: to go to and be present at a place for some purpose; also (obsolete), followed by on: to be present at and take part in an event.
Followed by to: to take action with respect to someone or something; to deal with.
Followed by on or upon: of a (chiefly immaterial) thing: to be consequent on or present with.

Pronunciation

/əˈtɛnd/ [əˈtʰɛnd] En-us-attend.ogg

Word forms

attend attends attending attended no-table-tags glossary attendest attendedst attendeth

Etymology

PIE word *h₂éd From Middle English attenden, atenden (“to devote oneself (to a task, etc.); to pay attention to (something), to look after; to consider (something); to expect or look forward to (something); to intend to do (something); to help or serve (someone), attend upon; to take care of (something)”), from Old French atendre (“to await, wait for; to expect; to intend”), from Latin attendere, adtendere (“to pay attention to, attend; to direct or turn toward”), from ad- (“prefix meaning ‘to, towards’”) + tendō (“to direct one’s course; to extend, stretch; to exert, strive”). Doublet of attempt and tend.

Synonyms

bestand serve aid attend attend to await bestead dance attendance do do for service stay tend wait wait on wait upon behear mark notice take heed clock consider give heed heed let in on mind pass pay attention pay heed pick up what someone is putting down privy regard take note take notice be all ears earball give ear hark harken lend an ear list listen close note abide bide expect hold up keep remain tarry wait for

Related words

attendance attendant attention attentive attentively attentiveness

Derived words

attendable attended attendee attender attending attend to coattend disattend misattend overattend preattend reattend reattendance reattender stretch-attend posture tend underattend

Translations

Bulgarian: посещавам Finnish: käydä French: aller French: fréquenter Ancient Greek: φοιτάω Hungarian: eljár Hungarian: jár Hungarian: látogat Italian: frequentare Japanese: 通う Korean: 다니다 Portuguese: frequentar Russian: посеща́ть Russian: посети́ть Russian: ходи́ть Spanish: cursar Spanish: asistir Spanish: ir

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

Back to search All on A Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary