Attention

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

Full definition of attention

(usually uncountable; plural attentions)

(uncountable) Mental focus.
Please direct your attention to the following words.

1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 1, 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. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 3, One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on â€œThe Inner Life.â€ He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis â€¦ interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
2012-03, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, The British Longitude Act Reconsidered, But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfugeâ€”a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.

(countable) An action or remark expressing concern for or interest in someone or something, especially romantic interest.

1818, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, ch. 3,She attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper.
1910, Stephen Leacock, "," in ,For some time past I have been the recipient of very marked attentions from a young lady.

(uncountable, military) A state of alertness in the standing position.
The company will now come to attention.