focus
/ˈfoʊ̯.kəs/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.00 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions (underneath the epicentre).
Countable
Example Sentences
- "The heat of sunlight at the focus of a magnifying glass can easily set dry leaves on fire."
- "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 seeking full focus on a micron scale."
- "During this scene, the boy’s face shifts subtly from soft focus into sharp focus."
- "I believe I can bring the high degree of focus required for this important job."
- "My studies are my main focus right now."
Etymology
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."
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfoʊ̯.kəs/
- British English: /ˈfəʊ̯.kəs/