English Explanatory Dictionary

focus

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
  2. A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.
  3. The fact of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
  4. The quality of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
  5. Concentration of attention.
  6. Something to which activity, attention or interest is primarily directed.
  7. The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions (underneath the epicentre).
  8. The status of being the currently active element in a user interface, often indicated by a visual highlight.
  9. 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.
  11. The centre of an older fish's scale, which is the point where a younger fish's scale starts to grow from.
verb
  1. To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.
  2. To adjust (a lens, an optical instrument) in order to position an image with respect to the focal plane.
  3. To adjust itself or be adjusted such that light from a scene converges appropriately to create a clear image.
  4. To direct attention, effort, or energy to a particular audience or task.
  5. To concentrate one’s attention.
  6. To concentrate one's attention on something; to have as one's central point of interest, concern, etc.
  7. To transfer the input focus to (a visual element), so that it receives subsequent input.
  8. To aggregate figures of accounts.

Pronunciation

/ˈfəʊ̯.kəs/ /ˈfɵ̞ʊ̯.kəs/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-focus.wav /ˈfoʊ̯.kəs/ /ˈfɔʊ̯.kəs/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-focus.wav /ˈfəʉ.kəs/ /ˈfɐ̝ʉ.kəs/

Word forms

focus foci focuses focusses focusing focussing focused focussed

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."

Synonyms

focal point adhere align anchor apply attend base center centre concentrate direct engage fixate hone point

Antonyms

defocus dilute ignore muddy

Related words

focal

Derived words

apofocus autofocus bifocus cofocus deep focus disfocus focus group focus-group focus hunting focus lamp focus lantern focusless focus puller in focus laser focus long-focus lens nanofocus out of focus perifocus pull-focus self-focus soft focus underfocus virtual focus hyperfocus microfocus overfocus prefocus retrofocus cryofocus defocus focusability focusable focuser focus pocus focusser hydrofocus immunofocus misfocus refocus unfocus

Translations

Bulgarian: фокус Catalan: focus Danish: fokus Dutch: focus Dutch: brandpunt Estonian: fookus Finnish: polttopiste Finnish: leikkauspiste French: foyer German: Brennpunkt Indonesian: titik api Irish: fócas Italian: fuoco Japanese: 焦点 Korean: 초점 Macedonian: фокус Māori: ngahunga Portuguese: foco Russian: фо́кус Russian: фока́льная то́чка Spanish: foco Tagalog: katumbukan Vietnamese: tiêu điểm
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