attendee

American  

[uh-ten-dee, at-en-, uh-ten-dee] / ə tɛnˈdi, ˌæt ɛn-, əˈtɛn di /

noun

1. a person who is present at a specific time or place.

   a conference with thousands of attendees.

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attendee British  

/ əˌtɛnˈdiː /

noun

1. a person who is present at a specified event

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Etymology

Origin of attendee

First recorded in 1935–40; attend + -ee

Explanation

An attendee is a person who shows up at an event or meeting. If you go to your family reunion every summer, you can say you're a regular attendee. Conferences, conventions, and other gatherings need to have attendees so they can proceed as planned. You might be a French club attendee at school or a regular town bike swap attendee. The original word for attendee was attender, but its meaning came to be "someone who waits on others," while attendee, as of the mid-20th century, was "someone who attends."

Example Sentences

On Monday, carnival attendee Glamour Sandra told the AP news agency that she loved "the energy, the artistic splendour, the creativity" of the event.

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026

Bannon himself didn’t show up, but Greg Bovino did, along with almost every attendee who found out about the event.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

Nissam Crowe, another rally attendee, agreed, saying: "We want democracy. We want freedom."

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

In fact, the central drama of “Brassroots District” is often kicked off by an attendee finding some purposely left-behind props that allude to the group’s record label drama.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2026

One of the event’s coordinators let her know that “her greatest fan,” a fellow attendee, wanted to meet her.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Words

• attendant