Listening
Listening noun - The act of hearing attentively.
Paying attention and listening are semantically related. in hearing topic. In some cases you can use "Paying attention" instead an adjective "Listening".
Paying attention
Paying attention adjective - Taking heed; giving close and thoughtful attention.
Listening and paying attention are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Listening" instead an adjective phrase "Paying attention".
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- attentive and listening
- attentive and paying attention
- mind and listening
- mind and paying attention
- mark and listening
- mark and paying attention
- listen and listening
- listen and paying attention
- heed and listening
- heed and paying attention
- attend and listening
- attend and paying attention
- hear and listening
- hear and paying attention
Both terms in one sentence
- She gave a bunch of crap about not me listening to her enough or something... I don't know I wasn't really paying attention.
Source: Hypocritical Humor / Film - A subversion would be if they were listening and pretend not to, or appeared to be not paying attention but could repeat what the person said verbatim.
Source: Not Listening to Me, Are You? - Draco Malfoy: Not listening, not paying attention at all lalalalalala!
Source: Ignoring by Singing
Cite this Source
Paying attention and Listening. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 01, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/listening/paying_attention
Listening & Paying attention. N.p., 2016. Web. 01 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/listening/paying_attention>.
Paying attention or Listening. 2016. Accessed August 01, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/listening/paying_attention.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "listening" and "paying attention" have occurred on timeline