verb | noun
focusfocus1 /ˈfoʊkəs/ ●●○ S3 W3 AWL verb [intransitive, transitive] 1to pay special attention to a particular person or thing instead of others: He stopped writing, trying to focus.focus on something The gallery’s show focuses on works painted after 1945. The recent civil war has focused attention on (=caused people to pay attention to) the southern region.focus your mind/thoughts/efforts etc. on something Try to focus your efforts on achievable goals.2to change the position of the lens on a camera, telescope, etc., so that you can see something clearly: focus something on something He focused his binoculars on the building opposite.focus on something She turned the camera and focused on Martin’s face.3if your eyes focus, or if you focus your eyes, you become able to see something clearly4science, physics if beams of light focus, or you focus them, they pass through a lens and meet at a point [Origin: 1600–1700 Latin hearth (=place for a fire in a house)] verb | noun
focusfocus2 ●●○ AWL noun 1
[singular, uncountable] a subject or situation that is the most important part of something or that people pay special attention to: The organization has a simple focus – keeping kids in school.focus of The war became the focus of worldwide attention.somebody’s focus is on something The company’s focus is on growth. This small village became the focus of worldwide attention. The House’s actions today will shift the focus (=change it) back to the budget.2[uncountable] serious concentration on a particular goal without wasting time or energy on other things: He’s a talented tennis player, but he lacks focus.3[singular] the part of an instrument such as a camera or telescope that you turn until the image that you are looking at is clear: She adjusted the focus on the camera.4how clear or unclear an image is when it is seen through a camera, telescope, etc.: I adjusted the lens until the image was in focus (=clear). Almost every picture she took was out of focus (=unclear). We turned the telescope until the stars came into focus (=became clear).5bring something into focus to make people become aware of an issue or subject and start to think and talk about it: The case has brought the problem of child abuse sharply into focus.6[countable] earth science the center of an earthquake7[countable] (plural foci /ˈfoʊsaɪ/) science, physics the point at which rays of light, sound, or heat meet each other SYN focal point: the focus of a lens8math, science, geometry a)one of two fixed points inside an ellipse for which the sum of the distances from these points to any point on the ellipse is always the same b)one of the two fixed points inside the curves of a hyperbola for which the difference between the distances from these points to any point on the hyperbola is the same c)a fixed point inside a parabola for which the distance between that point and any point on the parabola is the same as the distance from that point on the parabola and the directrix (=a particular line outside the parabola)