focus

SayFOH-kuhsUS/ˈfoʊ.kəs/UK/ˈfəʊ.kəs/

Verbfocuses, focusing, focused

Noun pluralfoci, focuses, focusses

16 meanings of focus

Practice

1
center onverbintransitive
To give all your attention or effort to one thing, or to concentrate.
Like shining a light on one spot and leaving the rest dark.
Let's focus on the most important question first.
She focuses on her homework every evening.
UsageSay focus on something.
Similarconcentrate
2
main subjectnouncountable
The main thing that people pay attention to or care about.
Like the center of a target that everyone aims at.
Safety was the main focus of the meeting.
Her new focus this year is learning to swim.
UsageSay the main focus of something.
Similaremphasis, center, target, concern, priority
3
steady attentionnoununcountable
The act of giving all your attention to one thing.
Like pointing a flashlight at one spot instead of waving it around.
She lost her focus halfway through the test.
It takes real focus to finish a long puzzle.
UsageSay lose focus or keep your focus.
Similarconcentration, attention
Oppositedistraction, inattention

Less common meanings

4
sharpnessnoununcountable
How sharp and clear a picture is, as in 'in focus' or 'out of focus'.
Like how clear a window is: clean and crisp, or smudged and fuzzy.
The focus in this photo is soft around the edges.
Better focus made the second picture much clearer.
UsageA clear photo is in focus; a blurry one is out of focus.
Similarsharpness, clarity, definition
Note
5
verbintransitive
Of a camera, a lens or your eyes, to change so that what you see becomes clear and sharp.
Like your eyes adjusting until something far away looks clear.
The camera focuses automatically in good light.
Wait for the lens to focus before you press the button.
UsageSay the camera focuses on something.
6
nouncountable
The point where light rays meet, or seem to spread from, after passing through a lens or bouncing off a mirror.
Like sunlight gathered into one bright dot under a magnifying glass.
A magnifying glass bends sunlight to a single focus that can burn paper.
The lens brings all the light rays together at one focus.
UsageMore than one: foci or focuses.
7
gather lightverbtransitive
To make rays of light come together at one point.
Like using a magnifying glass to gather sunlight into one hot spot.
A magnifying glass can focus sunlight onto a leaf.
The lens focused the beam into a tiny bright dot.
Similarconcentrate, direct
Oppositescatter, diffuse, disperse
Note
8
earthquake originnouncountable
The exact place underground where an earthquake actually begins.
Like the deep spot inside an apple where a crack first begins.
The earthquake's focus lay about ten miles below the surface.
Scientists found the focus deep under the ocean floor.
Similarhypocenter
Note
9
geometrynouncountable
A special fixed point used to draw or describe a curve such as an ellipse or a parabola.
Like an oval room where sound from one special spot travels right to another.
In the oval room, a whisper at one focus can be heard clearly at the other focus.
Our math teacher showed us how to find the focus of a parabola.
Note
10
active state (screen)nouncountable or uncountable
When an item on a screen is the active one, ready to receive what you type or click.
Like a spotlight on stage: only the actor in it gets attention.
Click the text box to give it focus before you start typing.
When a text box has focus, a blue outline appears around it.
Note
11
make active (screen)verbtransitive
To make an item on the screen the active one, so it receives what you type next.
Like turning a spotlight onto one actor so the audience watches them.
Tap the search bar to focus it before typing your question.
The app will focus the first field when the form opens.
Note
12
nouncountablemedicine
A small spot in the body where an infection, illness, or unhealthy tissue is centered or spreads from.
The doctor found a small focus of infection in his lung.
Her whole arm was red, but the infection was coming from one small focus near the cut.
Note
13
noun
The word or part of a sentence that carries the most important new information.
14
noun
An object that a person uses to help cast a magic spell.
15
noun
The center point of a fish's scale, where the scale first started to grow.
16
verbobsolete
To add up the numbers in a set 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, DraculaHere, focusing means adding up the numbers in a set of accounts.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of focus apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It comes from the Latin word "focus," meaning "hearth" or "fireplace." Kepler later used the word in math and science to describe the orbits of planets.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

English focus comes from Latin focus, meaning hearth or fireplace. en.wiktionary.org
Kepler used focus as a mathematical and scientific term when describing planetary orbits. en.wikipedia.org