different between focus vs focalize

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f??.k?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?fo?.k?s/
• Rhymes: -??k?s

Noun

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

1. (countable, optics) A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.

2. (countable, geometry) A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.
3. (uncountable, photography, cinematography) The fact of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.

4. (uncountable, photography, cinematography) The quality of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.

5. (uncountable) Concentration of attention.

6. (countable, seismology) The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions (underneath the epicentre).

7. (graphical user interface) The indicator of the currently active element in a user interface.

8. (linguistics) The most important word or phrase in a sentence or passage, or the one that imparts information.
9. An object used in casting a magic spell.
   • 2004, Marian Singer, Trish MacGregor, The Only Wiccan Spell Book You'll Ever Need

     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.

   • 2014, Kristen S. Walker, Witch Gate (page 180)

     I ran through what I knew about spells from Mom and other witchcraft sources, but nothing matched what I was used to seeing in her magic work. Usually she used herbs and other plants as a focus for the spell.

Derived terms

• focus hunting

Translations

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, followed by on or upon) To concentrate during a task.

2. (transitive) To direct attention, effort, or energy to a particular audience or task.

3. (transitive) To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.
4. (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.

5. (intransitive) To concentrate one’s attention.

   If you're going to beat your competitors, you need to focus.

6. (computing, graphical user interface, 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.

Usage notes

The spellings focusses, focussing, focussed are more common in Commonwealth English than in American English, but in both varieties they are less common than the spellings focuses, focusing, focused.

Derived terms

• focus group
• in focus
• out of focus
• soft focus

Related terms

• focal

Translations

Anagrams

• Fusco

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin focus. Compare the inherited doublet foc.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?f?.kus/

Noun

focus m (plural focus)

1. focus

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin focus. The figurative sense probably derives from English focus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fo?.k?s/
• Hyphenation: fo?cus

Noun

focus m (plural focussen)

1. (optics, physics) focus

   Synonym: brandpunt

2. (figuratively) focus, centre

3. (linguistics) focus

Derived terms

• focaal
• focusafstand
• focussen

Related terms

• foyer

Descendants

• Afrikaans: fokus

References

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin focus, whence also Italian fuoco (an inherited doublet).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?.kus/
• Hyphenation: fò?cus

Noun

focus m (invariable)

1. focus (all senses)

Latin

Etymology

• The origin is uncertain. Usually connected with Old Armenian ??? (boc?).
• Some connect this along with faci?s, fac?tus, fax to Proto-Indo-European *b?eh?- (“to shine”). In that case, cognate at the root level with Sanskrit ???? (bh??ti), Ancient Greek ????? (phaín?, “to shine”), etc.
• In explaining how Kepler discovered the elliptical orbits, Nicholas Mee provides this explanation:

"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." (Gravity, 2014, p. 74)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?fo.kus/, [?f?k?s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?fo.kus/, [?f??kus]

Noun

focus m (genitive foc?); second declension

1. fireplace, hearth
2. firepan, coal pan, brazier
3. (figuratively) house, family
4. (Vulgar Latin) fire

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Derived terms

Related terms

• focillare
• foculare

Synonyms

• (fire): ignis

Descendants

References

• focus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• focus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• focus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• focus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
• focus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• focus in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

English

Etymology

focal +? -ize

Verb

focalize (third-person singular simple present focalizes, present participle focalizing, simple past and past participle focalized)

1. To focus, or to adjust a focus
2. To sharpen an image by focusing
3. To concentrate on a particular location; to localize

Translations

Portuguese

Verb

focalize

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of focalizar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of focalizar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of focalizar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of focalizar