attending

1 of 2

adjective

at·​tend·​ing ə-ˈten-diŋ How to pronounce attending (audio)
: serving as a physician or surgeon on the staff of a hospital or similar health care facility and having primary responsibility over the treatment of a patient and often supervising treatment given by interns, residents, and fellows
an attending physician
attending staff

attending

2 of 2

noun

: an attending physician or surgeon
In the hospital, he had been cared for by a full team of cardiologists, ranging from fellows in specialty training to attendings who had practiced for decades.Atul Gawande

Examples of attending in a Sentence

Adjective a surprise arrest of the operator of an illegal gambling joint and all attending employees dislikes flying and all of its attending inconveniences
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Every member of this person’s care team—from nurses and social workers to residents and attendings—nodded in agreement. Zoe Adams, Scientific American, 22 Oct. 2024 More interns sleep together in the closet than attendings! Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Sep. 2024 One question, and perhaps the obvious one, is: What is Catherine going to do about her lack of attendings? EW.com, 9 Sep. 2024 Such jobs include roles in business management, teaching, customer care, legal work, health care, social media management, consulting, sales, flight attending, public relations and politics. Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 5 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for attending 

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1904, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1906, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of attending was in 1904

Dictionary Entries Near attending

Cite this Entry

“Attending.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attending. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.

Medical Definition

attending

1 of 2 adjective
at·​tend·​ing ə-ˈtend-iŋ How to pronounce attending (audio)
: serving as a physician or surgeon on the staff of a hospital or similar health-care facility and having primary responsibility over the treatment of a patient and often supervising treatment given by interns, residents, and fellows
The attending staff is also expected to teach and mentor the residents during their training.Geogy Thomas, The Los Angeles Times
If such a patient lacks a reasonably available surrogate, an attending physician may issue a do-not-resuscitate order with judicial approval or with the written concurrence of another physician …Lawrence O. Gostin, The Journal of the American Medical Association

attending

2 of 2 noun
: an attending physician or surgeon
Being the attending on a teaching service nowadays requires visiting once or twice daily, being present for procedures, and documenting everything.Abraham Verghese, The New England Journal of Medicine
In the hospital, he had been cared for by a full team of cardiologists, ranging from fellows in specialty training to attendings who had practiced for decades.Atul Gawande, The New Yorker

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