different between attentive vs carefully

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t?nt?v/

Adjective

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

Synonyms

• audient
• mindful
• reckful

Antonyms

• inattentive, reckless

Translations

See also

• alert
• wary
• watchful

Anagrams

• tentative

French

Adjective

attentive

1. feminine singular of attentif

English

Etymology

From Middle English carfulli, carefulliche, from Old English carfull??e, ?earfull??e (“carefully, diligently”), equivalent to careful +? -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k??f?li/, /?k??fli/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??f?li/, /?k??fli/
• Hyphenation: care?ful?ly, caref?ully

Adverb

carefully (comparative more carefully, superlative most carefully)

1. (obsolete) Sorrowfully.
2. With care; attentively, circumspectly.

   • Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

Translations