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focus

noun, verb — 19 senses

focus

noun

UK /ˈfəʊ̯.kəs/ · CA, US /ˈfoʊ̯.kəs/

Etymology Borrowed from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more. Related to fuel. Kepler introduced the term into mathematics and the sciences in describing elliptical orbits of planets (quote from Nicholas Mee) : "One of the interesting properties of an ellipse is that if there were a light bulb at one focus, then all the light that it emits would reflect off the ellipse and converge at the other focus. This is why Kepler originally used the name focus for these points."

11 senses
  1. 1A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
  2. 2A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve…
  3. 3The fact of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
  4. 4The quality of the convergence of light on the…
  5. 5Concentration of attention.
  6. 6Something to which activity, attention or interest is…
  7. 7The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three…
  8. 8The status of being the currently active element in a…
  9. 9The most important word or phrase in a sentence or…
  10. 10An object used in casting a magic spell.
  11. 11The centre of an older fish's scale, which is the point…
1

Engineering, Natural sciences, Optics, Physical sciences, Physics A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.

  • The heat of sunlight at the focus of a magnifying glass can easily set dry leaves on fire.
2

Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.

3

Arts, Broadcasting, Cinematography, Film, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Media, Photography, Television The fact of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.

  • Unfortunately, the license plate is out of focus in this image.
  • Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
4

Arts, Broadcasting, Cinematography, Film, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Media, Photography, Television The quality of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.

  • During this scene, the boy’s face shifts subtly from soft focus into sharp focus.
5

Concentration of attention.

  • I believe I can bring the high degree of focus required for this important job.
6

Something to which activity, attention or interest is primarily directed.

  • My studies are my main focus right now.
7

Geography, Geology, Natural sciences, Seismology The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions (underneath the epicentre).

  • The earthquake's focus was at exactly 37 degrees north, 18 degrees south, seventy five meters below the ground.
8

Computing, Engineering, Graphical user interface, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The status of being the currently active element in a user interface, often indicated by a visual highlight.

  • Text entered at the keyboard or pasted from a clipboard is sent to the component which currently has the focus.
9

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences The most important word or phrase in a sentence or passage, or the one that imparts information.

10

An object used in casting a magic spell.

  • Candles, in fact, are an essential ingredient in many spells. They can be used as either the focus of the spell or as a component that sets the spell's overall mood and tone.2004, Marian Singer, Trish MacGregor, The Only Wiccan Spell Book You'll Ever Need:
11

Biology, Ichthyology, Natural sciences, Zoology The centre of an older fish's scale, which is the point where a younger fish's scale starts to grow from.

Derived terms
29 termsapofocus, autofocus, bifocus, cofocus, deep focus, disfocus, focus group, focus-group, focus hunting, focus lamp, focus lantern, focusless, focus puller, hyperfocus, in focus, laser focus, long-focus lens, microfocus, nanofocus, out of focus, overfocus, perifocus, prefocus, pull-focus, retrofocus, self-focus, soft focus, underfocus, virtual focus

focus

verb

Etymology Borrowed from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more. Related to fuel. Kepler introduced the term into mathematics and the sciences in describing elliptical orbits of planets (quote from Nicholas Mee) : "One of the interesting properties of an ellipse is that if there were a light bulb at one focus, then all the light that it emits would reflect off the ellipse and converge at the other focus. This is why Kepler originally used the name focus for these points."

8 senses
  1. 1To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.
  2. 2To adjust (a lens, an optical instrument) in order to…
  3. 3To adjust itself or be adjusted such that light from a…
  4. 4To direct attention, effort, or energy to a particular…
  5. 5To concentrate one’s attention.
  6. 6To concentrate one's attention on something; to have as…
  7. 7To transfer the input focus to (a visual element), so…
  8. 8To aggregate figures of accounts.
1

To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.

  • The difficulties of focussing colour-light signals on curved tracks to ensure maximum sighting distance were underlined in the recent official report [...] on a low-speed collision at Newcastle Central on July 25, 1960, between an unfitted freight and a diesel-hauled passenger train.1961 February, “Talking of Trains: Collision at Newcastle”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 75–76:
2

Engineering, Natural sciences, Optics, Physical sciences, Physics To adjust (a lens, an optical instrument) in order to position an image with respect to the focal plane.

  • You'll need to focus the microscope carefully in order to capture the full detail of this surface.
3

Engineering, Natural sciences, Optics, Physical sciences, Physics Usually, Of a lens To adjust itself or be adjusted such that light from a scene converges appropriately to create a clear image.

Optical instrument

  • I can't get the lens to focus.
  • The camera focuses automatically on the subject's eyes.
4

To direct attention, effort, or energy to a particular audience or task.

  • The president focused her remarks on the newcomers.
5

To concentrate one’s attention.

  • If you're going to beat your competitors, you need to focus.
6

Followed by on or upon To concentrate one's attention on something; to have as one's central point of interest, concern, etc.

  • I have to focus on my work.
7

Computing, Engineering, Graphical user interface, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To transfer the input focus to (a visual element), so that it receives subsequent input.

  • The text box won't receive the user's keystrokes unless you explicitly focus it.
8

Accounting, Business, Finance To aggregate figures of accounts.

  • Whole pages of it are filled with masses of figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the totals added in batches again, as though he were "focusing" some account, as the auditors put it.1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 67:
Synonyms
adhere, align, anchor, apply, attend, base, center, centre, concentrate, direct, engage, fixate, hone, point
Antonyms
defocus, dilute, ignore, muddy
Derived terms
cryofocus, defocus, focusability, focusable, focuser, focus pocus, focusser, hydrofocus, hyperfocus, immunofocus, microfocus, misfocus, overfocus, prefocus, refocus, retrofocus, unfocus
Related terms
focal
Hypernyms
order

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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