Meaning & use
pay attention to detail
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiom
To notice and carefully deal with small points and facts, so that your work contains no mistakes.
Grammar: Without an article before detail: pay attention to detail, not pay attention to the detail.
Patterns
- pay attention to detail
- be someone who pays attention to detail
A good editor must pay attention to detail and catch every typo.
The job requires you to pay attention to detail when checking orders.
She paid attention to detail and noticed the missing digit.
phraseidiom
To look closely at specific small features so you can understand or copy something accurately.
Grammar: Can add a specific noun after to: pay attention to the details of the contract.
Patterns
- pay attention to the details of something
When you read the contract, pay attention to the details about payment dates.
Artists learn to pay attention to detail, such as the way light falls on a face.
Word forms
| third person singular | pays attention to detail |
|---|---|
| past tense | paid attention to detail |
| past participle | paid attention to detail |
| -ing form | paying attention to detail |
Common combinations
- strong attention to detail
- The role requires strong attention to detail.
- pay close attention to detail
- Please pay close attention to detail on this form.
- a keen eye for detail
- He has a keen eye for detail.
- fail to pay attention to detail
- She failed to pay attention to detail and sent the wrong file.
- attention to detail matters
- In surgery, attention to detail matters enormously.
Synonyms and how they differ
- be meticulous
- Be meticulous is stronger and suggests extreme care in everything, not only noticing small points.
- be thorough
- Be thorough means covering everything completely, while pay attention to detail focuses on small points.
- be careful
- Be careful is general and may refer to safety, but pay attention to detail concerns accuracy in small matters.
- be precise
- Be precise concerns exactness of results, whereas pay attention to detail concerns noticing.
Opposites
Word family
- attentive adjective
- paying close attention
- attentively adverb
- in a careful way
- detailed adjective
- including many small facts
- attention noun
- careful focus on something
Commonly confused: pay attention to detail or pay attention?
pay attention to detail vs pay attention
Pay attention alone means to listen or watch carefully, while pay attention to detail is about small points and accuracy.
Practice
The job advert asks for someone who can ____ when proofreading.
Choose one answer.
Pay attention to detail is the fixed expression. The other options change the noun form or the preposition, which is not standard.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pay attention to detail”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.