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.
Still, I found myself listening attentively to the warning Miller was issuing about buying into the salesman ethos.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
Grier, who sold her CPA practice a few years ago to become a financial adviser, found that listening attentively enabled her to forge a connection with jittery taxpayers.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 13, 2026
"President Trump was listening attentively and running the entire three-hour marathon cabinet meeting," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to AFP on Wednesday.
From Barron's • Dec. 3, 2025
Seema pretends to listen attentively until neither she nor we can take it anymore.
From Salon • Jun. 7, 2025
At this point Sam began to listen more attentively and pressed his ear against the stone.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
