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Synonyms

attendee

American  
[uh-ten-dee, at-en-, uh-ten-dee] / ə tɛnˈdi, ˌæt ɛn-, əˈtɛn di /

noun

  • attendees
    plural
  1. a person who is present at a specific time or place.

    a conference with thousands of attendees.


attendee British  
/ əˌtɛnˈdiː /

noun

  1. a person who is present at a specified event

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of attendee

First recorded in 1935–40; attend + -ee


Explanation

An attendee is a person who shows up at an event or meeting. If you go to your family reunion every summer, you can say you're a regular attendee. Conferences, conventions, and other gatherings need to have attendees so they can proceed as planned. You might be a French club attendee at school or a regular town bike swap attendee. The original word for attendee was attender, but its meaning came to be "someone who waits on others," while attendee, as of the mid-20th century, was "someone who attends."

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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:

As the lights flickered back on, baptism in blackout over, one attendee quipped that the show was now, officially, "very authentic".

From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026

Bridget Eliot, another workshop attendee, grew up in Germany during the Cold War when the Berlin Wall remained intact.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

One registered attendee led a project dedicated to shrimp welfare, aiming to cast a spotlight on the hundreds of billions of shrimp that are farmed each year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

About 250 people showed up, a turnout that at least one attendee called disappointing.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

“Welcome to Tokyo, Miss Chen,” the hotel’s registration attendee says to me as we reach the front desk.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

At the Lewiston rally, some attendees said they are supporting Mr. Jackson mostly for national political reasons.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

He had appeared virtually at an event in early October to inform attendees that he had come down with the illness.

From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026

York Minster charges £20 for general admission tickets and under-18s can accompany paying adults for free, while St Paul's Cathedral in London charges a £26 fee for tourist visits, while permitting service attendees free entry.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

Police cleared the event, held upstairs at the strip mall, and removed more than 100 attendees one by one, according to OnScene Media.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

The sign-up sheet had room for twenty attendees.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

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