(foci, ~es, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
Note: The spellings '~ses', '~sing', '~sed' are also used. The plural of the noun can be either 'foci' or '~es'.
1.
If you ~ on a particular topic or if your attention is ~ed on it, you concentrate on it and think about it, discuss it, or deal with it, rather than dealing with other topics.
He is currently ~ing on assessment and development...
Many of the papers ~ their attention on the controversy surrounding the Foreign Secretary.
= concentrate
VERB: V on n, V n on n
2.
The ~ of something is the main topic or main thing that it is concerned with.
The new system is the ~ of controversy...
Her children are the main ~ of her life.
N-COUNT: usu sing, usu with supp
3.
Your ~ on something is the special attention that you pay it.
IBM has also shifted its ~ from mainframes to personal computers.
N-COUNT: usu sing, usu with supp, oft N on n
4.
If you say that something has a ~, you mean that you can see a purpose in it.
Somehow, though, their latest album has a ~ that the others have lacked...
N-UNCOUNT
5.
If you ~ your eyes or if your eyes ~, your eyes adjust so that you can clearly see the thing that you want to look at. If you ~ a camera, telescope, or other instrument, you adjust it so that you can see clearly through it.
Kelly couldn’t ~ his eyes well enough to tell if the figure was male or female...
His eyes slowly began to ~ on what looked like a small dark ball...
He found the binoculars and ~ed them on the boat...
Had she kept the camera ~ed on the river bank she might have captured a vital scene.
VERB: V n, V on n, V n on n, V-ed, also V
6.
You use ~ to refer to the fact of adjusting your eyes or a camera, telescope, or other instrument, and to the degree to which you can see clearly.
His ~ switched to the little white ball...
N-UNCOUNT
7.
If you ~ rays of light on a particular point, you pass them through a lens or reflect them from a mirror so that they meet at that point.
Magnetic coils ~ the electron beams into fine spots.
VERB: V n prep
8.
The ~ of a number of rays or lines is the point at which they meet. (TECHNICAL)
N-COUNT
9.
If an image or a camera, telescope, or other instrument is in ~, the edges of what you see are clear and sharp.
Pictures should be in ~, with realistic colours and well composed groups.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v
10.
If something is in ~, it is being discussed or its purpose and nature are clear.
This aggression is the real issue the world should be concerned about. We want to keep that in ~...
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v
11.
If an image or a camera, telescope, or other instrument is out of ~, the edges of what you see are unclear.
In some of the pictures the subjects are out of ~ while the background is sharp.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v