attend
Americanverb (used with object)
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attends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
attended,
past participle, past
-
attending
present participle
-
to be present at.
to attend a lecture; to attend church.
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to go with as a concomitant or result; accompany.
Fever may attend a cold. Success attended her hard work.
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to take care of; minister to; devote one's services to.
The nurse attended the patient daily.
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to wait upon; accompany as a companion or servant.
The retainers attended their lord.
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to take charge of; watch over; look after; tend; guard.
to attend one's health.
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to listen to; give heed to.
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Archaic. to wait for; expect.
verb (used without object)
-
attends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
attended,
past participle, past
-
attending
present participle
-
to take care or charge.
to attend to a sick person.
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to apply oneself.
to attend to one's work.
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to pay attention; listen or watch attentively; direct one's thought; pay heed.
to attend to a speaker.
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to be present.
She is a member but does not attend regularly.
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to be present and ready to give service; wait (usually followed by on orupon ).
to attend upon the Queen.
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to follow; be consequent (usually followed by on orupon ).
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Obsolete. to wait.
verb
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to be present at (an event, meeting, etc)
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to give care; minister
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to pay attention; listen
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(tr; often passive) to accompany or follow
a high temperature attended by a severe cough
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(intr; foll by on or upon) to follow as a consequence (of)
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to devote one's time; apply oneself
to attend to the garden
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(tr) to escort or accompany
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(intr; foll by on or upon) to wait (on); serve; provide for the needs (of)
to attend on a guest
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archaic (tr) to wait for; expect
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obsolete (intr) to delay
Synonym Usage
See accompany.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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attendsimple
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attendssimple
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have attendedperfect
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has attendedperfect
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am attendingprogressive
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are attendingprogressive
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is attendingprogressive
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have been attendingperfect progressive
-
has been attendingperfect progressive
Past
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attendedsimple
-
had attendedperfect
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was attendingprogressive
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were attendingprogressive
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had been attendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of attend
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English atenden, from Anglo-French, Old French atendre, from Latin attendere “to bend to, notice,” from at- at- + tendere “to stretch, extend, proceed”; cf. tend 1
Explanation
The verb attend means to be present, to listen, or give care or attention to. You can attend your family reunion, attend to a project you've been ignoring, or attend to your teacher's voice. When you use attend as "pay attention" or "take care of," it's followed by "to." When you use attend as in "attend a party," you don't. If you attend a political rally, you'll want to attend to what the politicians have to say. When you take attendance, you are checking which students have chosen to attend class, i.e. who is in attendance.
Vocabulary lists containing attend
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
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"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling
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Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some industry officials anticipated Chinese execs would attend a state dinner alongside American tech and AI CEOs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
It meant there was no network TV footage of Trump boarding Air Force One or arriving in New York to attend the UN general assembly.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
About 9,500 attend Cal State, out of 471,000.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Anderson was released on Monday from Maghaberry Prison to attend the funeral but absconded and remains at large.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
But on the other, I did not want to attend Aunt Kitty’s funeral.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Karla Navarrete attends three different WebEx court calls in her office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Tim Curry attends a 40th anniversary celebration for The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Los Angeles in 2015.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Macron's visit to London, which includes bilateral talks with Burnham on Thursday, will be rich with symbolism as the French president attends the official opening of the Bayeux showcase the previous day.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Because that’s expensive, she’s asking everyone who attends to pay her $80 to help cover the tab.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
“Why is it always Duck who attends to things?”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
More than 100 people attended a public meeting on Saturday with many raising concerns.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
“It starts attracting everybody,” he said of the forums he participated in and the speaking events he attended.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Its centerpiece was an eight-foot-tall stone lantern given to then-Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley by Japanese sports columnist Sotaro Suzuki and his wife, Toku, who had attended the stadium’s grand opening in 1962.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
In January this year, after hearing that Bechi may have been released early, BBC undercover reporters attended an annual prayer event at the Shiddiqiyyah Islamic boarding school in East Java.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
As part of their duty to serve, the Hitler Youth attended three-week summer infantry camps, intended to prepare them for military life.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Despite attending multiple after-parties that evening, Evans said they made sure to video call their parents who were sat at home in their dressing gowns.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
And he was attending King Charles III’s AI summit in Scotland where he cautioned against conflating the technology of artificial intelligence with a specific AI product.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
I was 11, attending an Islamic school in northern New Jersey.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "deeply regrets" Washington's decision to deny a visa for the second year running to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, a UN spokesman said Friday, preventing him for attending the UN General Assembly.
From Barron's
Our friends and loved ones were used to attending debutant balls, but since I didn’t have one the year before, this party was like my make-up quinceañera.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
