Meaning & use
gain attention
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Meanings
phraseintransitive
to make people notice you or what you are doing, especially in a positive way.
Grammar: No object when the meaning is 'become noticed by people in general': The campaign gained attention online.
Patterns
- gain attention
- gain attention from someone
- gain someone's attention
- gain attention for something
The young singer gained attention after a video of her performance went viral.
Their research gained attention from scientists around the world.
He dyed his hair bright green to gain attention at the party.
phrasetransitive
to succeed in getting a particular person to notice and listen to you.
Grammar: Takes a possessive object here: gain someone's attention means that person starts to notice you.
Patterns
- gain someone's attention
- gain the attention of someone
She knocked loudly on the desk to gain the teacher's attention.
It took several minutes to gain the attention of the busy waiter.
Common combinations
- gain attention online
- The video gained attention online within hours.
- gain national attention
- The scandal gained national attention.
- gain media attention
- The protest gained media attention for several days.
- gain attention for something
- She gained attention for her work on clean water.
- struggle to gain attention
- New writers often struggle to gain attention.
Synonyms and how they differ
- attract attention
- Very close in meaning, but 'attract attention' often suggests that notice comes naturally or even unwillingly, while 'gain attention' usually suggests effort or a positive result.
- draw attention
- Similar, but 'draw attention' is often used for something noticeable or embarrassing, and it commonly takes 'to': draw attention to a problem.
- get attention
- More informal and more common in speech; 'gain attention' sounds slightly more formal and is typical in written reports.
Opposites
Word family
- attention noun
- the act of noticing or watching someone or something.
- attentive adjective
- paying careful attention to someone or something.
- attentively adverb
- in a way that shows careful attention.
Commonly confused: gain attention or pay attention?
gain attention vs pay attention
'Pay attention' means to listen or watch carefully; 'gain attention' means to make other people notice you. You gain attention, but you pay attention to something.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
'Gain attention for something' is the correct pattern, meaning the charity became noticed because of its work. Option 1 uses 'to', which belongs with 'draw attention to'. Option 2 uses 'pay attention', which means to watch or listen carefully. Option 3 wrongly makes 'attention' plural; it is uncountable here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gain attention”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.