Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

focus

2 noun
     
focus2 W2
1 [singular] the thing, person, situation etc that people pay special attention toCOLLOCATIONS COLLOCATIONS
the focus is on something the focus of attention/concern/interest the focus of debate the main/central/primary focus (of something) become the focus (of/for something) provide a focus (for something) shift the focus (of something) the focus shifts (from something) (to something)
The focus of recent research has been on environmental issues.
focus of
The war in Bosnia 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 to
focus on
Our main focus is on helping people get back into work.
3

come 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).
4

in focus/out of focus

HPO 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.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary