attention
noun
Simple meaning
The faculty or power of mental concentration.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhtehnshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈtɛnʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The faculty or power of mental concentration
“Keeping track of all the details requires your complete attention.”
countable
An action or remark expressing concern for or interest in someone or something, especially romantic interest.
uncountable
Mental focus.
uncountablemilitary
A state of alertness in the standing position.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The faculty or power of mental concentration
Used this way, attention is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Keeping track of all the details requires your complete attention.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use attention
- “Keeping track of all the details requires your complete attention.”noun
- “She was the center of attention.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.
A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.
The length of time you can concentrate on some idea or activity.
Point out carefully and clearly.
The object upon which interest and attention focuses.
The object upon which interest and attention focuses.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: faculty or power of mental concentration
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.