attentive

From Middle English attentif, attentijf, from Old French attentif.

• IPA^(key): /əˈtɛntɪv/

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attentive (comparative more attentive, superlative most attentive)

1. Paying attention; noticing, watching, listening, or attending closely.

   She is an attentive listener, but does not like to talk much.

   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, republished by Eland, 2019; p. 94:

     King-of-the-Sky was sitting alone in the Leeward Village meeting-house, gesticulating to the attentive shades of night, roaring out the genealogy of his ancestors, telling the sleeping world of his greatness.

2. Courteous; mindful.

   a husband attentive to his wife’s needs

• audient
• heedful
• mindful
• reckful

• inattentive, reckless

• alert
• wary
• watchful

• tentative

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attentive

1. feminine singular of attentif