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ATTEND TO
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Get down to; pay attention to; take seriously
Example:
Attend to your duties, please
Synonyms:
attend to; take to heart
Classified under:
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting
Hypernyms (to "attend to" is one way to...):
bear in mind; mind (keep in mind)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Antonym:
neglect (leave undone or leave out)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Work for or be a servant to
Example:
The minister served the King for many years
Synonyms:
assist; attend; attend to; serve; wait on
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "attend to" is one way to...):
aid; assist; help (give help or assistance; be of service)
Verb group:
serve (devote (part of) one's life or efforts to, as of countries, institutions, or ideas)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "attend to"):
valet (serve as a personal attendant to)
fag (act as a servant for older boys, in British public schools)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody with something
Sentence example:
Sam cannot attend to Sue
Context examples:
Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I had devised an automatic jib-sheet which passed the jib across of itself, so there was no need for Maud to attend to that; but she was still hoisting the jib when I put the wheel hard down.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Well, said the inspector with a grave and thoughtful face, whoever he may have been, and whatever he may have wanted, he’s gone for the present, and we have more immediate things to attend to.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Sometimes he fell and cut himself; sometimes he lay all day long in his little bunk at one side of the companion; sometimes for a day or two he would be almost sober and attend to his work at least passably.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
The Comprehensive Minority Biomedical Program (CMBP) represents an effort by the NCI to broaden participation in cancer-related research and training activities by minorities, individuals with disabilities, and individuals seeking to reenter an active research career after taking time off to attend to family responsibilities.
(Comprehensive Minority Biomedical Program, NCI Thesaurus)
It is a good time to attend to duties on your to-do list that you never quite got back to doing and to return to people from your past, to reconnect, whether in friendship or business.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
It seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external action upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those persons who are able to afford it always keep a flapper (the original is climenole) in their family, as one of their domestics; nor ever walk abroad, or make visits, without him.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Lady Middleton expressed her sense of the affair about once every day, or twice, if the subject occurred very often, by saying, It is very shocking, indeed! and by the means of this continual though gentle vent, was able not only to see the Miss Dashwoods from the first without the smallest emotion, but very soon to see them without recollecting a word of the matter; and having thus supported the dignity of her own sex, and spoken her decided censure of what was wrong in the other, she thought herself at liberty to attend to the interest of her own assemblies, and therefore determined (though rather against the opinion of Sir John) that as Mrs. Willoughby would at once be a woman of elegance and fortune, to leave her card with her as soon as she married.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I'll give up my place here at once, and attend to the flowers, if you like.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
