focus1 verbfocus2 noun
focusfo‧cus1 /ˈfəʊkəs $ ˈfoʊ-/ ●●○ S3 W2 AWL verb (past tense and past participle focused or focussed, present participle focusing or focussing) 
WORD ORIGINfocus1
Origin:
1600-1700 Latin ‘hearth (= place for a fire in a house)’VERB TABLE
focus
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | focus |
| he, she, it | focuses | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | focused, focussed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have focused, focussed |
| he, she, it | has focused, focussed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had focused, focussed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will focus |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have focused, focussed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am focus, focussing |
| he, she, it | is focus, focussing | |
| you, we, they | are focus, focussing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was focus, focussing |
| you, we, they | were focus, focussing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been focus, focussing |
| he, she, it | has been focus, focussing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been focus, focussing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be focus, focussing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been focus, focussing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- He stared out the window for a moment, trying to focus his thoughts.
- Any work undertaken on an individual basis should always focus attention on the broader social context in which the individual lives.
- At least, he said, he could focus on his other math class.
- By which is meant that they have developed their ability to focus both senses and mind upon a thought process.
- In the way that you use a camera, you can focus your mind either on positive or negative factors.
- It took a long time to focus and get rid of the swimming water.
- It warns policymakers not to get tangled up with averages but to focus instead on increments.
- Research will focus on the people living in the estates in east Middlesbrough.
- The companies Uunet and Digex, for example, have dropped consumers to focus on business markets.
Longman Language Activatorto have something as the main subject
· The play is about life in the Deep South in the 1930s.· What's tonight's documentary about?· Have you ever read 'Hideous Kinky'? It's about an English woman and her daughter travelling in Morocco.
to be about a particular subject, especially a serious one, and examine it carefully and in detail. Deal with is much more common than be concerned with: · The story deals with the psychological conflicts between mother and son.· The earliest films made in India dealt with mythological subjects.· Elton's books are often concerned with environmental issues.
if a story, report etc concerns someone or something, it is about them and especially about what happens to them: · Much of the material in her early letters concerns events which happened some years before.
also centre on British, /center on American if something such as a book, article, or discussion focuses on a subject or problem, it is mainly about it and examines it in detail: · The next chapter will focus on this problem in greater detail.· a weekly magazine mainly focusing on business-related issues· The controversy centred on the question of illegal arms sales.
to make people pay attention to a subject or problem · The group is willing to use terrorism in order to draw attention to their desire for independence.· Fox was one of the first US scientists to call attention to the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
to show that something is important and make people notice it, especially so that they start to do something about it: · The report highlighted the need for prison reform.· The Association's first project was to publish a 35-cent brochure highlighting nine historic sites.
to make a large group of people, especially the public, pay attention to one particular problem or bad situation because it needs their help: · The publicity campaign helped to focus attention on the needs of elderly people in the community.focus somebody's attention on: · The media's efforts often focus public attention on government incompetence, forcing government to do the right thing.
to inform someone in a position of power or authority about a problem, bad situation etc so that they can do something to help or stop it: · It was one of the other students who brought your misbehaviour to my attention.· The reviews provide a way for companies to bring their trade concerns to the attention of the government.
to tell someone about a mistake they have made, something they have forgotten etc: · He pointed out the danger of a mountain trek at this time of year.point out that: · I pointed out that changing the date would mean rescheduling the press conference.point something/it out: · I didn't realise I'd made a mistake. Thank you for pointing it out.as somebody points out: · As Palermo pointed out, Peruvian university students tend to be highly political.
WORD SETSdiffract, verbeyepiece, nounfocal point, nounfocus, verbmagnification, nounmirage, nounoptic, adjectiveoptical, adjectiveoptical illusion, nounoptics, nounprism, nounprismatic, adjectivereflection, nounreflective, adjectivespectrum, nounultraviolet, adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
She tried to focus her mind on her work. In this stage of a rape case, the focus often shifts onto the victim and her conduct.
1give attention to something [intransitive, transitive] to give special attention to one particular person or thing, or to make people do this SYN concentratefocus on She tried to focus her mind on her work. (=make people give their attention to something) We need to focus public attention on this issue.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES We need to focus public attention on this issue.· Accountants often concentrate on one aspect of accounting.
(=point it very exactly at someone or something)· The TV cameras were focused on his face.
In this stage of a rape case, the focus often shifts onto the victim and her conduct.· Laura wasn't interested so he switched his attention to Tessa.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN· Thereafter everyone will focus on practical aspects of dealing with an existing problem.· That the ultra-competitive Johnson would focus on the uneven aspects of his game was a lot less surprising than his actual play.· The book's later chapters focus mainly upon aspects of media accountability.· Hopefully, they will focus on motivational aspects of this situation.· Similarly, within any stage, different agencies may need to focus on different aspects.· Finally, the graph search perspective helped to focus on the dynamic aspects of speech processing.
· Towards the end of the 1980s attention was being focussed on some interesting developments in wagon design.· A great deal of social work attention was focussed on the parents and the social and economic situation of the family.· Those things on which attention is focussed regularly are the things that get done.· All of our attention was focussed on the boy.· Further attention will be focussed upon general physical and nutritional health as well as On emotional and spiritual recovery.· Our attention should be focussed on the direction of movement and the relative change.
· The book's later chapters focus mainly upon aspects of media accountability.· In Chapter 7, we focus not simply on what happened to the new managers, but rather on how it felt.· In this chapter we focus on how you arrange your gathered material in the form of an argument.· In later chapters we focus on reporting at other stages of the process.· Two chapters focus on modes of separation.· The next two chapters focus on the process environment, successively on automated sampling and chromatography.
· Consequently, the subsequent discussion will focus on different analyses which may be pursued before or after the initial investment.· Also in these seminars, discussion will focus on wildlife conservation.· In the second case the discussion should focus on the cost to the business, should this be £4,000 or £5,000.· Again perhaps an initial discussion which does focus on the differences to get that out of the way might be helpful.· The present discussion will focus on reasons and natural justice.· All discussions of eating disorders focus upon the disorderly eater rather than chaotic food.
· Your main efforts should now focus on establishing a firm home base.· Her mind drifted and blanked, refusing her efforts to focus.
· The Department's group communication activities focus on informal education in rural areas.· The focus groups really helped me focus.· All of these groups focus on helping family members cope when they have an alcoholic family member.· Mark Drake combined aspects of both these models by using a group process to focus the political actors on analyzing business issues.
· In each case try to focus your mind on the part of your body that has in turn been made tense and relaxed.· In the way that you use a camera, you can focus your mind either on positive or negative factors.· The meditator is required to focus their mind upon the mantra in an effortless, relaxed way.· He will be able to return on compassionate leave - particularly if it helps to focus his mind on the Test series.
· It should focus on internal needs defined by the school and its teachers, not merely what outsiders consider to be important.· Oratory eliminated the worthless chatter and allowed spies to focus on their precise needs, spewing to the printer only relevant messages.· In a sales-orientated approach the sales representative is focussing on his needs as a seller.· The point of such an exercise is to clearly focus on present needs and to clarify the process of learning.· Action should focus on the training needs of all new recruits and continually developing and improving the skills of existing employees.
· Some of this spirit of discovery seems lacking in the presentation which tends to focus on cataloging our problems.· You try to focus on the problem again.· It will focus on the problems arising from the interplay of national environmental policies.· Mission-driven budgets relieve legislators of micromanagement decisions, freeing them to focus on the larger problems they were elected to solve.
· The main questions which the project will focus upon are: Has privatisation laid the foundation for longer-term change in employee relations?· Brown created Project Foresight to focus on the issue.· This project will focus on this particular element of formula funding.· The projects focus on maintaining and protecting the species' habitats, and in some cases establishing them in new habitats.· The second phase of the project will focus on the actual dynamics of problem incidents.· The research project will focus on children's comprehension of pretence.· Two further projects focus directly on management behaviour as it affects approaches and strategies towards employees.
· Research into Anglo-Saxon pottery found in the excavation of settlements has tended to focus on questions relating to domestic pottery production.· The clearest way to focus the questions raised so far is by posing the level-of-analysis problem with more care.· Having attributed such importance to value consensus, many functionalists then focus on the question of how this consensus is maintained.· And do not such disciplines go further and focus such questions in real-life judgements, decisions and actions?
· Part of the research will focus on Lungu perceptions of, and interaction with, their natural environment.· His initial research will focus on how best to solve economic problems in inner-city areas.· Much of the existing research has focussed on the internal adaptations of the firm to the introduction of new technology.· The research will focus on just one of those research groups, and will trace the discovery and the published discovery claim.· The research project will focus on children's comprehension of pretence.
He needs to focus more on his career.focus your attention/mind/efforts on something She tried to focus her mind on her work.focus (somebody’s) mind/attention (on something) (=make people give their attention to something) We need to focus public attention on this issue.GRAMMARYou say: · We focused on two main issues. ✗Don’t say: We focused in two main issues.2camera/telescope [intransitive, transitive] to point a camera or telescope at something, and change the controls slightly so that you can see that thing clearlyfocus on She turned the camera and focussed on Martin’s face.focus something on something He focused his binoculars on the building opposite.3eyes [intransitive, transitive] if your eyes focus, or if you focus your eyes, you look at something and can see it clearlyfocus on All eyes focussed on her. His eyes were focussed straight ahead.4light [transitive] if you focus beams of light, you aim them onto a particular placefocus1 verbfocus2 noun
focusfocus2 ●●○ S3 W2 AWL noun EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- The organization has a simple focus - keeping kids in school.
- And this, too, was a consequence of sheer experience and of the pedagogical focus.
- Just for once, let's keep the focus on it.
- Our focus, they say, should henceforth be directed to the secondary years.
- The focus of the drama shifts to discovering the dangers, and weighing up pros and cons of using the magic carpet.
- The play made David and his anguish the primary focus.
- The powers that be were not interested in continuing that serious focus on the black experience.
- The science needed a change of direction, a new focus.
- Three of the company of eight are in wheelchairs - but the focus is always on dance, not disability.
Longman Language Activatorwhen someone or something gets a lot of attention
· The young Senator is getting a lot of attention.· The film has attracted considerable attention since it was released last week.
British /be the center of attention American if someone or something is the centre of attention everyone is very interested in them and gives them a lot of attention: · I loved talking and being the centre of attention, so I was chosen to be spokesperson.· Eliot argued that it should be the poetry, not the poet's personality, that is the center of attention.
if someone or something, often a bad situation, is the focus of attention , everyone is paying it a lot of attention: · The earthquake has made skyscrapers the focus of attention.· The Airline became the focus of attention yesterday after its stock fell dramatically to 31 cents.· Suddenly Carmichael, the shy lead singer, was the focus of millions of young girls' attention.
the interest that people show in someone or something: · Jerry loves the attention he gets when he's performingmedia attention (=attention from newspapers, television etc): · The intense media attention surrounding the case, has made it very difficult for the family to cope.
photographs/images/pictures · High-definition television is amazing. The picture is so clear.· The images of Mars sent back by the Voyager satellite are amazingly clear.
very clear, especially because the edges of objects are very easy to see: · "Clear, sharp photos every time," the advertisement promised.· Lichtenstein's paintings are full of colours and sharp outlines - almost like children's comics.
photographs, films, or images that are in focus have been photographed or filmed from the correct distance or with the camera correctly set, so that everything in the pictures is clear: · Several of the photos weren't in focus.· Roy adjusted the TV set so that the picture was in sharper focus.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Meanings 1 & 2adjectives In this stage of a rape case, the focus often shifts onto the victim and her conduct.
1[singular] the thing, person, situation etc that people pay special attention to: · The main focus of our attention will be on providing an efficient service.
(=most important)· The film’s central focus is the relationship between the two women.
(=main or most important)· The economic situation is likely to be the primary focus of the discussion.
verbs· When you give a talk you become the focus of attention.
· The church provided a focus for the community.
· He changed the focus from general to specific issues.
(=move it to something else)· Opposition MPs accused the prime minister of trying to shift the focus onto other issues.
· The focus of the negotiations shifted to working conditions.
phrases· The focus is now on improving students’ communication skills.
· In this section of the talk the focus of attention will be on statistics.
· Animal behaviour has long been a focus of interest for scientists.
(=the thing which people are discussing)· The strike became the focus of debate in the media.
(=the thing which people are worried about)· The spread of the disease has become the main focus of concern.
· Over the years, there has been a change of focus from treatment to prevention.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES· Accountants often concentrate on one aspect of accounting.
(=point it very exactly at someone or something)· The TV cameras were focused on his face.
In this stage of a rape case, the focus often shifts onto the victim and her conduct.· Laura wasn't interested so he switched his attention to Tessa.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· This is the composite word on the triangle which is the central focus of every Royal Arch chapter.· It will provide a comprehensive district-wide service for the first time, and act as a central focus for the community.· The central focus is the development of leisure interests during adolescence and the theoretical framework draws upon recent work in social cognition.· The central focus of the analysis is therefore on developments in, and changes in the interrelationships between, sport and medicine.· Authority is the central focus of hierarchy, which is the chief coordinating mechanism of work organizations.· Next Time A central focus of the next issues will be on communicating research.· Rather, the central focus of the magic is the weather-vane on top of the Great Tower.· The central focus of all this railway activity was, however, the railway station.
· Each part has a clear learning focus and language points are consistently signposted through the use of headings.· It is clear that the focus is on what ought to be taught: the intended curriculum.· Every effort is made to bring matters into clear focus.· Bring into clear and detailed focus all the decision you make today.· The figure whose character achieved clearest focus was that of Fulk the Good, Geoffrey Grisegonelle's father.· We can work together as a whole group in which there is a clear focus and a clear task.· The advantage of this system is that lessons have a clear focus, which is beneficial to student and teacher.
· This is the main focus of attention in this chapter.· Mona, Seth and Barbara make up the main focus of the book, but even the tangential characters are wittily drawn.· Nithard's main focus was on Charles; but in July 840 the eyes of most of the elite were on Lothar.· The use of public funds to clean up the jusen mess will be the main focus of the session.· The main focus of this chapter is elected local government, but this in itself is organizationally far from simple.· However the main focus is on the Honours which are now on display in the Crown Room.· More usually formal committees have remained politically representative, with the main focus of organized party activity being reflected in party groups.· His main focus is what this dispersal tells us about human variation and evolution.
· A major focus was the problem of how to resource a strategy for new local services.· But the real enforcers seem to be the fans, for whom the masked wrestlers are a major focus of fantasy.· A major focus of the research concerns the strategies and resources available to participants in establishing preferred images and agendas.· Controllers that learn are a major focus of their efforts.· Program objectives are a major focus of the evaluation model.· Ideas and experiences of time will be a major focus.· Arguably, a major focus of marketing could be on emphasising the individuality of services.
· The science needed a change of direction, a new focus.· But a visit to a local physician for a routine checkup sparked a new focus for her creative talents.· And two articles emphasising the importance of quality as applied to service issues - the new focus for the quality process.· Implicit in the name was a new focus on spacing, rather than limiting, families.· But a new sense of focus and control has set in.· There are some excellent new books that focus on low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt, high-fibre recipes.· It is likely that Compact will give a new focus to such activities and provide new opportunities for student involvement. 16.· The four objectives, however, provide a new focus.
· But it is personal relationships that emerge as the primary focus of this biography.· The play made David and his anguish the primary focus.· The primary focus is on the social, as opposed to the economic and technological features of competition.· And their primary focus for control is always individual performance and accountability.· Laski's study of judicial review is particularly interesting since its primary focus is a study of Roberts v. Hopwood.· A spine-tingling vocal concoction that gives Trick Baby its primary focus.· Given the pleasure and benefit to both men and women, why was it never a primary campaigning focus?
· That puts the importance of the order in sharp focus.· At most ski resorts, large and small, there has been a sharper focus on day-care facilities and staff.· The banning of the annual sea dump brought the issue of nuclear waste disposal into even sharper focus.· Programs designed to motivate patients into leaving voluntarily brought into sharp focus conflicting institutional dynamics inherent in the leprosarium setting.· In recent years this has been brought into sharp focus with growing public concern for a healthier and safer environment.· Fast Forward Advanced At this level, there is a much sharper focus on authentic listening and speaking.· Henley Research Centre Strengths Sharp client focus.· An up-front market study can provide valuable insights and provide sharper focus for the subsequent search.
· Each frozen image has been warmed into soft focus, like a special effect.· She sees everything in soft focus, but feels nothing.· Applied over makeup, this transparent, velvety gel puts wrinkles into soft focus.
NOUN· General practitioners are also active members of focus groups that discuss particular areas of service such as diabetes.· In focus groups, they asked the engineers scores of questions: What were their work and communication styles?· He is a very mundane politician reading the focus group results and staking out a position he thinks will sell.· One involves focus groups, where a representative customer is selected and asked to perform a task by following the enclosed directions.· Perhaps the Labour pollster Philip Gould could see what one of his focus groups thinks.· Part of the study included results of focus groups of girls 10, 13 and 16 years old.· The focus groups really helped me focus.· As a focus group later revealed, the more relaxed tone won the readers' interest.
VERB· The extent to which a powerful magnate could dominate the shire community and act as a focus for local sentiment varied.· Similar market-places are likely to have acted as a focus elsewhere.· Postgraduate activity is organised into a Graduate School, which acts as a focus for research student affairs.· The site will attract visitors during the festival, and will later act as a focus for inward investment.· The Summer School and studio have acted as a focus for Jacqueline's work.· The dead bodies of lagoon fish had occasionally acted as a focus for the processes of petrification.
· Children's behaviour problems become a focus of concern when the child is behaving inappropriately or excessively for their age.· As geology has become the focus of more attention, it has aroused the curiosity of young people about nature in general.· This is because health and the quality and availability of health care often become the focus of community struggle.· I made two more visits to Knowlton, and it has now become a focus for my own particular pilgrimage.· The part of the wood where we were had become the focus to which all the firing converged.· Reserpine became the focus of further clinical studies.· Social mobility thus becomes the focus of attention.
· It is that alarming situation which egg producers wish to address and which the battling nuns have brought into public focus.· She still wears them in class, closing her left eye to bring the blackboard into focus.· The lens in both the eye and the camera brings the world into focus.· Programs designed to motivate patients into leaving voluntarily brought into sharp focus conflicting institutional dynamics inherent in the leprosarium setting.· Along the stem rail there is a line of telescopes; each brings the shore into focus at a given distance.· This inevitably brings into focus the procedure for the planning, monitoring and control of public expenditure.· Every effort is made to bring matters into clear focus.
· The stories are there - we need only change our focus, alter our frame of reference, in order to find them.· By changing the narrative focus frequently, Hood fails to control the direction of her novel.· By changing the historian's focus, these problems can be put into another perspective.· They just changed the focus from fear to action.· That question asks us to change our focus and consider our legal practice not in cross-section but over some stretch of time.· Henry Fan, managing director of Citic, said the company is changing its focus as it shifts assets.· So it's actually changed its focus.· You have to change your focus.
· He was, however, having a great deal of trouble keeping the world in focus.· To keep that focus, Finch has refused to speculate about what happened to Earhart.· Just for once, let's keep the focus on it.· While Dole tried to keep his focus on crime, other issues, particularly abortion, cropped up.· It keeps well to its focus on the individual's relationship to society, and sustains the comparisons.· This chapter has kept its focus resolutely on the male.
· The operations group was established to provide a focus for information and discussion.· To provide a focus, Section 11. 4 describes three conceptual approaches to oil boiler conversion to gas-coal burning.· Less than two minutes away are the three pools which provide the daytime focus.· That provided a focus, a dynamism, and a sense of obligation to their activities that had been missing before.· And environmental factors provide an obvious focus for a consideration of preventive options.· And video's moving pictures also help learners concentrate because they provide a focus of attention while they listen.· More interestingly, the items which provide the focus to the concordance need not be dictionary headings or even vocabulary words at all.· An up-front market study can provide valuable insights and provide sharper focus for the subsequent search.
· Such an emphasis shifts the focus away from modifying or repackaging the individual on to a concern to minimise the restrictiveness of opportunities.· Now, shift the focus to the person who matters most: the reader.· Ministers have shifted their focus from primary standards to the lack of pupil progress at key stage 3.· Schools also have shifted the focus of education away from citizenship towards training for jobs, he said.· This shifted the conceptual focus away from needs as defined in relation to the child's handicap towards educational needs arising from learning difficulties.· It is often difficult to peg managers who shift their focus from one industry or market theme to another.· But the tendency for the theoretical concerns also to shift focus and expand is evident in regionalism seen as theory.· The premium on performance shifts the focus this spring to the exhibition games, starting in another week.
· We should switch the focus: the no-car class; the one-car class; and increasingly the two-car class.
The focus of recent research has been on environmental issues.focus of The war in Afghanistan had become the focus of media attention. The focus of interest in the series is what goes on in everyday life. Another focus of feminist debate has been the film industry. I shall now turn to the main focus of this essay. Eggs became the focus for the food poisoning scare. The focus of the conference shifted from population growth to the education of women.2[uncountable] if your focus is on something, that is the thing you are giving most attention tofocus on Our main focus is on helping people get back into work. a shift of focus3come into focus/bring something into focus if something comes into focus, or you bring it into focus, people start to talk about it and pay attention to it: These issues have recently come into sharp focus (=people have started to talk about them a lot).4in focus/out of focus if a photograph or an instrument such as a camera is in focus, you can see the picture clearly. If it is out of focus, you cannot see the picture clearly.5[uncountable] the clearness of the picture seen through an instrument such as a camera: He raised his binoculars and adjusted the focus.COLLOCATIONS– Meanings 1 & 2adjectivesthe main focus· The main focus of our attention will be on providing an efficient service.the central focus (=most important)· The film’s central focus is the relationship between the two women.the primary focus (=main or most important)· The economic situation is likely to be the primary focus of the discussion.verbsbecome the focus· When you give a talk you become the focus of attention.provide a focus· The church provided a focus for the community.change the focus· He changed the focus from general to specific issues.shift the focus (=move it to something else)· Opposition MPs accused the prime minister of trying to shift the focus onto other issues.the focus changes/shifts· The focus of the negotiations shifted to working conditions.phrasesthe focus is on something· The focus is now on improving students’ communication skills.the focus of attention· In this section of the talk the focus of attention will be on statistics.a focus of interest· Animal behaviour has long been a focus of interest for scientists.the focus of debate (=the thing which people are discussing)· The strike became the focus of debate in the media.the focus of concern (=the thing which people are worried about)· The spread of the disease has become the main focus of concern.a change/shift in focus· Over the years, there has been a change of focus from treatment to prevention.