Note: these 'words' (valid or invalid) are all the permutations of the word focus. These words are obtained by scrambling the letters in focus.
Definitions and meaning of focus
focus
Etymology
Borrowed from Latinfocus(“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more. Doublet of 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."
Pronunciation
(UK) IPA(key): /ˈfəʊ.kəs/
(US) IPA(key): /ˈfoʊ.kəs/
Rhymes: -əʊkəs
Noun
focus (countable and uncountable, pluralfociorfocusesorfocusses)
(countable, optics) A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
Synonym:focal point
(countable, geometry) A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.
(uncountable, photography, cinematography) The fact of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
(uncountable, photography, cinematography) The quality of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
(uncountable) Concentration of attention.
(countable) Something to which activity, attention or interest is primarily directed.
Synonym:focal point
(countable, seismology) The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions (underneath the epicentre).
(graphical user interface) The status of being the currently active element in a user interface, often indicated by a visual highlight.
(linguistics) The most important word or phrase in a sentence or passage, or the one that imparts information.
An object used in casting a magic spell.
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
focus (third-person singular simple presentfocusesorfocusses, present participlefocusingorfocussing, simple past and past participlefocusedorfocussed)
(transitive) To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.
(transitive, optics) 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.
(intransitive, optics, of a lens, optical instrument, etc.) To adjust itself or be adjusted such that light from a scene converges appropriately to create a clear image.
(transitive) To direct attention, effort, or energy to a particular audience or task.
(intransitive) To concentrate one’s attention.
If you're going to beat your competitors, you need to focus.
(intransitive, followed by on or upon) To concentrate one's attention on something; to have as one's central point of interest, concern, etc.
(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.
(accounting, formerly) To aggregate figures of accounts.
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
Related terms
focal
Translations
References
Anagrams
Fusco
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latinfocus. Compare the inherited doublet foc.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian)[ˈfɔ.kus]
Noun
focusm (invariable)
focus
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from New Latinfocus. The figurative sense probably derives from Englishfocus.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈfoː.kʏs/
Hyphenation: fo‧cus
Noun
focusm (pluralfocussen)
(optics, physics) focus
Synonym:brandpunt
(figurative) focus, centre
(linguistics) focus
Derived terms
focaal
focusafstand
focussen
Related terms
foyer
Descendants
Afrikaans: fokus
References
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latinfocus, whence also Italian fuoco (an inherited doublet).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈfɔ.kus/
Rhymes: -ɔkus
Hyphenation: fò‧cus
Noun
focusm (invariable)
focus (all senses)
Anagrams
Fusco
Latin
Etymology
The origin is uncertain. Usually connected with Old Armenianբոց(bocʿ).
Some connect this along with faciēs, facētus, fax to Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-(“to shine”). In that case, cognate at the root level with Sanskritभाति(bhā́ti), Ancient Greekφαίνω(phaínō, “to shine”), etc.
Portuguese: fogo (see there for further descendants)
Old Spanish: fuego
Ladino: fuego
Spanish: fuego
Borrowings:
→ Catalan: focus
→ Dutch: focus
→ English: focus
→ Esperanto: fokuso
→ Finnish: fokus
→ French: focus
→ Galician: foco
→ German: Fokus
→ Italian: focus
→ Portuguese: foco
→ Russian: фо́кус(fókus)
→ Spanish: foco
→ Swedish: fokus
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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 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
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 228-9