Attention

How to spell attention

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce attention

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does attention mean?

1. nounThe act of concentrating the mind on something, or the notice given to a person or thing.
2. interjectionA command ordering soldiers to stand upright and still, ready for orders.

Attention in a sentence

• noun

  The long report failed to hold her attention past the first page.

• interjection

  The sergeant called the recruits to attention before the inspection.

• noun

  The new manager paid close attention to the staff complaints.

• interjection

  The whole platoon snapped to attention as the general entered.

Where does attention come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin attentio, a noun built on the verb attendere, which meant 'to stretch toward' or 'to direct one's mind toward something'. That verb combined the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward' (which softened to at- before the t), with tendere, meaning 'to stretch'. The literal image is of the mind being stretched out toward whatever it is focusing on, a vivid picture that still suits the modern sense of concentrating on something. English took the word in through Old French attencion during the 1300s, and the spelling later settled back toward its Latin shape. The same tendere root stretches through a whole family of relatives such as 'tension', 'tent', 'extend', and 'intend', and remembering that shared 'tent' element helps explain why attention is spelled with that single t in the middle rather than a doubled one.

How the word is built

• at- (ad-: toward)
• tent (from tendere: to stretch)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)