focus

Syllables: fo·cus/ˈfəʊ̯.kəs//ˈfoʊ̯.kəs/

focus noun: a point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.

Noun

focus (countable and uncountable, plural foci or focuses or focusses)

(countable) 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.
Synonyms:

focal point
(countable) A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.
(uncountable) 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...2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist
(uncountable) 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.
(uncountable) Concentration of attention.
- I believe I can bring the high degree of focus required for this important job.
(countable) Something to which activity, attention or interest is primarily directed.
- My studies are my main focus right now.
Synonyms:

focal point
(countable) 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.
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.
The most important word or phrase in a sentence or passage, or the one that imparts information.
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
The centre of an older fish's scale, which is the point where a younger fish's scale starts to grow from.

Verb

focus (third-person singular simple present focuses or focusses, present participle focusing or focussing, simple past and past participle focused or focussed)

(transitive) 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
(transitive) 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.
(intransitive, usually, optical instrument) To adjust itself or be adjusted such that light from a scene converges appropriately to create a clear image.
- I can't get the lens to focus.
- The camera focuses automatically on the subject's eyes.
(transitive) To direct attention, effort, or energy to a particular audience or task.
- The president focused her remarks on the newcomers.
(intransitive) To concentrate one’s attention.
- If you're going to beat your competitors, you need to focus.
(intransitive) 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.
(transitive) 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.
(formerly) 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

focus meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

focus in Hindi

concentration of attention: ध्यान dhyān

focus in Tamil

கவனக்குவியம், கவனமையம், குவியம், ஓர்நிலை, பரவளையத்தில் உள்ள புள்ளி

focus in Bengali

নাভি, কেন্দ্রবিন্দু, উত্সবিন্দু, অধিশ্রয়, নাভিগত করান, রশ্মিকেন্দ্রীভূত করা

More languagesFewer languages

focus in Telugu: దృష్టి కేంద్రీకరించడానికి
focus in Malayalam: ദൃഷ്ടികേന്ദ്രം, കേന്ദ്രബിന്ദു, ഉത്ഭവകേന്ദ്രം, പ്രതിബിംബത്തിൻറെ സൂക്ഷ്മനില
focus in Kannada: ಸೇರ‍್ಮೆ, ನಾಭಿ, ಬಿಂದು, ಕಿರಣಗಳು ವಿಕಿರಣಗೊಳ್ಳುವಂತೆ ಕಾಣುವ ಬಿಂದು
focus in Punjabi: ਕੇਂਦਰ kendar
focus in Odia: ଫୋକସ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ
focus in Nepali: फोकस
focus in Tagalog: katumbukan
focus in Arabic: بُؤْرَة buʔra
focus in Indonesian: titik api, pumpunan, fokus
focus in Persian: فوکوس fokus, کانون kânun, تمرکز tamarkoz
focus in Vietnamese: tiêu điểm, tính rõ nét, trọng tâm, làm tụ vào

Examples of focus in a sentence

Our school focuses primarily on the liberal arts (read "useless degrees").
Formal linguistics ignores the vocabulary of languages and focuses solely on their grammar.
We need to focus on the main topic and ignore irrelevant details.

All 40 example sentences with focus

Synonyms of focus

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of focus

Forms of focus

Noun
plural	foci
plural	focuses
plural	focusses
Verb
third-person singular present	focuses
third-person singular present	focusses
present participle	focusing
present participle	focussing
past participle	focused
past	focused
past participle	focussed
past	focussed

Past tense of focus: focused or focussed

Plural of focus: foci or focuses

Origin of focus

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."

Words formed from focus

Phrases with focus

Words that rhyme with focus

Questions about focus

What does focus mean?: Focus means a point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
What is focus in Hindi?: Focus in Hindi is ध्यान (dhyān). See Focus meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is focus?: Focus can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce focus?: Focus is pronounced /ˈfəʊ̯.kəs/ (UK).
What is the plural of focus?: The plural of focus is foci.

Words near focus in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: focus (page history and authors); focus (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); توجہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); focus (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); focus (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); focus (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); focus (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੇਂਦਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); focus (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); focus (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-focus.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-focus.wav.

Cite this entry: “focus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/focus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.