Etymology
Origin of attentively
First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English; attentive ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Explanation
To do something attentively is to do it with full attention and focus. If you listen attentively in class, you might just get an A. Listen attentively to the directions before you swim in a shark cage and survive! When you give something your attention, you're focusing on it. To be attentive is to be zeroed in on something. Add an -ly and it’s an adverb — doing things attentively shows this kind of mindset. In a crowded mall, parents attentively watch their little children so they don't get lost. Intelligence agents attentively watch out for threats to the country. Doing something attentively is the opposite of doing it in a careless, zoned-out way.
Vocabulary lists containing attentively
Clairboyance
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Across So Many Seas
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Vocabulary from "Crime and Punishment" Part V, Chapters I-III
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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.
Attentively watching Goggia’s run from the finish area, Shiffrin raised both arms and put her hands to her head on seeing that her lead had held up.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 9, 2023
Attentively listening to People Talking about Things that Matter surely is not dull torture?
From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2016
Attentively the President and his monetary advisers listened, politely showed the old gentleman out.
From Time Magazine Archive
Attentively attending almost all the discussions of those three days, I found in them a somewhat dismaying contrast between their actual substance and their public appearance.
From Time Magazine Archive
Attentively Stueckrath observed the little point of glowing fire in his hand, from which eddied upward a wreath of fragrant smoke.
From The Indian Lily and Other Stories by Lewisohn, Ludwig
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.
