attend

Meanings

1. To be present at an event, a place or a gathering.
2. To deal with something, as in attend to a problem.

Example sentences

• "Over two hundred people attended the meeting."

  Level B1, Meaning 1

• "She attends a drama class every Tuesday."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "The nurse attended to the injured player."

  Level B2, Meaning 2

• "Do you plan to attend the wedding?"

  Level B1, Meaning 1

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• go : Go is the everyday word. Attend is more formal and suggests taking part in an event.
• join : Join means to become part of a group. Attend means to be present at an event.

Word family and forms

Forms: attends, attended, attending

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "attend".

• attend school
• attend a meeting
• attend to
• regularly attend
• attend a wedding
• well attended

Idioms and phrases

attend to

To deal with or take care of something.

"Please attend to the guests while I cook."

Origin

Attend came into English in the 1200s and 1300s from Anglo-French and Old French atendre, which took it from Latin attendere, to bend toward or to notice. The Latin verb is built from ad, meaning to, and tendere, to stretch. The idea is stretching your mind or your body toward something.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with "attend to," which means to take care of something rather than be present at it.

How to remember it

Attend has tend in it, a root meaning to stretch. When you attend, you stretch your attention toward something.

Test yourself

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