Attendance means being present at a place where you're expected to be. When teachers take attendance at school, they're checking who showed up and who's absent. Perfect attendance means you didn't miss a single day.

The word also refers to the total number of people who show up for an event. A baseball game might have an attendance of 40,000 fans, while a school play might have an attendance of 200. When news reports say “attendance was high,” they mean many people came.

Sometimes attendance is mandatory, meaning you must be there. Other times it's voluntary, but people track it anyway because it shows engagement and interest. A club with growing attendance is thriving; one with falling attendance might be struggling to keep members interested.