zero in

Verb

zero in (third-person singular simple present zeroes in or zeros in, present participle zeroing in, simple past and past participle zeroed in)

1. To focus one's aim; to zoom in and center (on something).
   • The pilot zeroed in on the bunker and launched a guided missile.
   • Zero in and find a watermark in the image.
2. To successfully narrow down a search (for).
   • We have zeroed in on the source of the problem.
   • See if you can zero in on the caller.
3. To concentrate or focus one's attention (on a task).
   • One member of the check fraud team will zero in on the fingerprints.
   • Scholarship suggests that pop culture feminists have correctly zeroed in on sexual double standards as a key source of gender inequality in sexuality.2010, Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, Paula England, “Is Hooking Up Bad for Young Women? Compared to What?”, in Contexts, volume 9, number 3, →DOI, page 23b
4. (idiomatic) To converge (on).
   • At the spring sale, everyone zeroed in on the bargain clothes.
   • With 79 minutes gone, the most celebrated team of the modern age had been reduced to bunch of mooching, stumbling yellow-shirted spectators. A Champions League season that had seemed to be zeroing in on another coronation for Lionel Messi had been wrenched, gleefully, the other way.2019 May 8, Barney Ronay, The Guardian