tend-, tendo-, ten-, teno-, tenot-, tenonto-, tens-, tent-, -tend, -tension, -tent, -tense, -tensive, -tentious

The tendon that connects the heelbone to the calf muscles: Bruce's left and right Achilles tendons became inflamed from excessive training for the long distance foot races.

Surgical division of the Achilles tendon or one of the longest tendons in the body, (formally called the tendo achilles or the tendo calcaneus) is a tough sinew that attaches the calf muscle to the back of the heel bone (the calcaneus).

According to Greek mythology, Achilles's mother held him as a baby by the heel and dipped him in the River Styx to make him invulnerable, but the heel by which she held him remained unimmersed and hence vulnerable, as Paris' arrow in Achilles' heel later proved.

See Achilles' Heel, the Myth for more details.

1. To take care or charge of; to look after: Jeanette attended and took care of Carol at home after Carol's major surgery on her heart.
2. To wait on; minister; to serve: Mrs. Jackson usually attends the elderly lady who is sitting in her wheelchair beside the window.
3. To accompany; to go with: The students' music recital was attended by a standing ovation by all the parents.
4. Etymology: "to direct one's mind or energies"; from Old French atendre, "to expect, to wait for, to pay attention"; from Latin attendere, "to give heed to"; literally, "to stretch toward"; from ad-, "to" + tendere, "to stretch".

1. The act of showing up someplace at an event or a meeting.
2. Appearing and being present.

Accompanying, associated, related: "Nick and Adriana always dread winter and its attendant hardships."

1. A person who is present in a particular place.
2. Anyone who shows up at an activity, etc. 3. Escorts, followers, companions, servants, or associates: "The queen was always surrounded by her attendants."

1. The act of keeping one’s mind on something or the ability to be aware of or to be interested in; mental concentration; mental readiness for such concentration.
2. Special care or consideration to something or someone.

1. Paying attention; being observant; listening to or watching carefully and with concentration.
2. Considerate, courteous, devoted, behaving toward a person, or people, in a way that shows special regard or affection, etc.

1. Listening carefully and having an observant manner: "Mike was listening attentively to his supervisor."
2. Being thoughtful of others, considerate, polite, and courteous: "Andriana was attentively taking care of her guests."

To give attention to what someone is saying.

1. An agent that dilutes or weakens the virulence of a pathogenic organism or the effects of a drug.
2. A medical composition that thins the blood or dilutes fluids.

1. To reduce the size, strength, or density of something, or to become thinner, weaker, or less densel: "The drought attenuated the river to a narrow channel."
2. To weaken or to reduce in force, the intensity, effect, quantity, or value of something: "Medicine attenuated the fever's effect."

"Deloris was able to attenuate her desire to eat too much."
3. To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus: "The chemist was able to attenuate the virus by exposing it to heat or producing a culture of it in a special medium." 4. Etymology: "to make thin, to make less" from Latin attenuatus, past participle of attenuare, "to make thin"; from ad-, "to" + tenuare, "to make thin"; from tenuis, "thin".

1. Rarefied or lessened by the density of.
2. In biology, a reference to bacteria or viruses that are less virulent.
3. In medicine, descriptive of the dilution of a solution or the reduction in virulence or toxicity of a microorganism or a drug by weakening it: "Attenuated bacteria or viruses are used in some vaccines." 4. In electronics, a reference to the reduction of the amplitude of an electrical signal with little or no distortion.

1. Procedures that weaken an agent of disease (a pathogen): "An attenuation of a virus is a weakened, less vigorous virus."

"A vaccine against a viral disease can be made from an attenuation, a less virulent strain of the virus, a virus capable of stimulating an immune response and creating immunity but not causing illness."

2. In physics, a reduction in amplitude, density, or energy resulting from friction, absorption, or scattering.
3. A loss of solar irradiance as it passes through the atmosphere to the surface of the earth.
4. A reduction in the toxicity of a pollutant substance in the environment; especially, as a result of natural processes: "The attenuations of bacteria and viruses are made less virulent by being heated, dried, treated with chemicals, passed through another organism, or cultured under unfavorable conditions."

"Attenuated bacteria are often used as vaccine agents."

5. The process of reduction: "There is an attenuation of an x-ray beam when its intensity is reduced."
6. The reduction of amplitude, magnitude, or strength of an electrical signal: "In electronics, an attenuation is the opposite of an amplification."