focus
noun/ˈfəʊkəs/
/ˈfəʊkəs/
(plural focuses, foci
/ˈfəʊsaɪ/, /ˈfəʊkaɪ/
/ˈfəʊsaɪ/, /ˈfəʊkaɪ/
)- [uncountable, countable, usually singular] the thing or person that people are most interested in; the act of paying special attention to something and making people interested in it
- focus of something It was the main focus of attention at the meeting.
- The primary focus of the book is practical teaching techniques.
- He decided to make colour the central focus of his work.
- focus for something His comments provided a focus for debate.
- focus on something We shall maintain our focus on the needs of the customer.
- In today's lecture the focus will be on tax structures within the European Union.
- The incident brought the problem of violence in schools into sharp focus.
- The film loses focus near the end.
- He began to shift his focus towards writing for the theatre.
- What we need now is a change of focus (= to look at things in a different way).
Extra Examples- The article does not seem to have any clear focus.
- Cities have always acted as the principal focus of political life.
- His research interest is the environment, with a focus on the economics of climate change.
- Let's take the focus off her personal life and look at what she's achieved.
- I found the focus of the debate too narrow.
- A narrow focus on profits neglects the human angle.
- In her new book, she broadens her focus to include the entire history of Ireland.
- I've directed my focus towards developing my skills.
- Our primary focus this term will be on group work.
- The company's main focus is cheese.
- The film maintains an intense focus on the two central characters.
- She became a focus for all his anger.
- The focus has now shifted towards the problem of long-term unemployment.
- The legal team tried to switch the focus onto the victim.
- The problem with your plan is that it doesn't have a clear focus.
- The question of compensation comes into focus.
- The restructuring is designed to give a sharper focus on key markets.
- We've lost focus on the real objective: to save lives.
- The story loses focus a bit at the end.
- He was restless and lacked focus.
- We need to bring some discipline and focus to our efforts.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- central
- main
- major
- …
- act as
- become
- remain
- …
- be on somebody/something
- remain on somebody/something
- shift
- …
- focus for
- focus of
- focus on
- …
- a change of focus
- a shift of focus
- the focus of attention
- …
- [uncountable] a point or distance at which the outline of an object is clearly seen by the eye or through a lens
- out of focus Some parts of the photograph are out of focus (= blurred rather than clearly seen).
- into focus When I got glasses, suddenly the whole world came into focus.
- in focus The binoculars were not in focus (= were not showing things clearly).
- Her eyes lost focus and she fainted.
Extra Examplessee also soft focus- His photographs are badly out of focus.
- The figure in the film comes in and out of focus.
- He deliberately let his eyes go out of focus.
- If you look at it for a while the image comes into focus.
- Suddenly her face snaps into focus.
- They're not very good photos, but at least they're in focus.
- Try to get their faces in focus.
- If you set the image to full screen you sometimes lose the focus.
- He explains how to set up the camera and how to adjust the focus.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- sharp
- soft
- come into
- in focus
- out of focus
- (also focal point)[countable] (physics) a point at which waves of light, sound, etc. meet after reflection or refraction; the point from which waves of light, sound, etc. seem to come
- [countable] (geology) the point at which an earthquake starts to happenTopics The environmentc2
Word Originmid 17th cent. (as a term in geometry and physics): from Latin, literally ‘domestic hearth’.
Check pronunciation:
focus