attention

English

Etymology

From Middle English attencioun, borrowed from Latin attentio, attentionis, from attendere, past participle attentus (“to attend, give heed to”); see attend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈtɛn.ʃən/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

Noun

attention (countable and uncountable, plural attentions)

1. (uncountable) Mental focus.

   Synonyms: heed, notice; see also Thesaurus:attention

   Please direct your attention to the following words.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

   • 1959, Mari Sandoz, “Bone Joe and the Smokin' Woman”, in Hostiles and Friendlies: Selected Short Writings‎^[1]:

     Lesper Killey was at her shoulder, jerking at the wash-faded denim of her jumper to get her attention.

   • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎^[2], volume 100, number 2, page 87:

     But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.

   • Mental definition

     Of or relating to the mind or specifically the total emotional and intellectual response of an individual to external reality.

     1. Of or relating to intellectual as contrasted with emotional activity. (1 of 11 mental definitions)

   • Focus definition

     A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge. (1 of 9 focus definitions)

   • Heed definition

     Careful attention.

   • Notice definition

     The act of observing; perception. (1 of 8 notice definitions)
2. (countable) An action or remark expressing concern for or interest in someone or something, especially romantic interest.
   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter 3, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC:

     She attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper.

   • 1910, Stephen Leacock, “How to Avoid Getting Married,”, in Literary Lapses:

     For some time past I have been the recipient of very marked attentions from a young lady.

   • Action definition

     The effort of performing or doing something. (1 of 20 action definitions)

   • Remark definition

     An act of pointing out or noticing; notice or observation. (1 of 4 remark definitions)

   • Concern definition

     That which affects one’s welfare or happiness. A matter of interest to someone. (1 of 7 concern definitions)

   • Interest definition

     (1 of 15 interest definitions)

   • Romantic definition

     Of a work of literature, a writer etc.: being like or having the characteristics of a romance, or poetic tale of a mythic or quasi-historical time; fantastic. (1 of 7 romantic definitions)
3. (uncountable, military) A state of alertness in the standing position.

   The company will now come to attention.

   • Military definition

     Characteristic of members of the armed forces. (1 of 4 military definitions)

   • Alertness definition

     The quality of being alert or on the alert

   • Standing definition

     present participle and gerund of stand
4. (uncountable, machine learning) A technique in neural networks that mimics cognitive attention, enhancing the important parts of the input data while giving less priority to the rest.
   • 2021, Savas Yildirim, Meysam Asgari-Chenaghlu, Mastering Transformers […] , Packt Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 26:

     The attention mechanism is an important part of these models and plays a very crucial role. Before Transformer models, the attention mechanism was proposed as a helper for improving conventional DL models such as RNNs.

   • Machine Learning definition

     The ability of computers to learn without being explicitly programmed. (1 of 2 machine learning definitions)

   • Technique definition

     The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements. (1 of 3 technique definitions)

   • Neural Network definition

     A real or virtual computer system designed to emulate the brain in its ability to "learn" to assess imprecise data. (1 of 2 neural network definitions)

   • Cognitive definition

     Relating to the part of mental functions that deals with logic, as opposed to affective which deals with emotions. (1 of 3 cognitive definitions)

   • Input definition

     The act or process of putting in; infusion. (1 of 5 input definitions)

   • Data definition

     plural of datum (1 of 6 data definitions)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Interjection

attention

1. (military) Used as a command to bring soldiers to the attention position.
2. A call for people to be quiet/stop doing what they are presently doing and pay heed to what they are to be told or shown.

Translations

Further reading

• “attention”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “attention”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Antonetti, tentation

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin attentiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

attention f (uncountable)

1. attention (mental focus)
2. vigilance

   Synonym: vigilance

   • Vigilance definition

     Alert watchfulness. (1 of 3 vigilance definitions)
3. attention (concern for)
4. attention (interest in)

   Synonyms: curiosité, intérêt

   • Curiosité definition

     curiosity (1 of 2 curiosité definitions)

   • Intérêt definition

     interest (great attention and concern from someone) (1 of 3 intérêt definitions)
5. consideration, thoughtfulness

   • Consideration definition

     The thought process of considering, of taking multiple or specified factors into account (with of being the main corresponding adposition). (1 of 6 consideration definitions)

   • Thoughtfulness definition

     Thoughtful and considerate attention. (1 of 2 thoughtfulness definitions)

Derived terms

• attentionnel
• faire attention
• prêter attention

Related terms

• attendre
• attentif

Interjection

attention !

1. look out! watch out! careful!

   • Look Out definition

     To be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger. (1 of 4 look out definitions)

   • Watch Out definition

     To be aware or conscious; to look closely or carefully; to use caution. Often used in the imperative.

   • Careful definition

     Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious. (1 of 4 careful definitions)

Further reading

• “attention”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• tentation