All 34 Uses

focus
in
Nineteen Minutes
(Auto-generated)

By the time she backed her car out of the garage, her head was already focused on the decision she had to write that afternoon; the number of arraignments the clerk would have stuffed onto her docket; the motions that would have fallen like shadows across her desk between Friday afternoon and this morning.
Chpt 1

focused = concentrating
It was hard to get excited about a bad check case, or a theft that would net the perp a $200 fine when it cost the taxpayers five times that to have Patrick focus on it for a week.
Chpt 1

focus = concentrate
You knew there would be people there, you knew their gazes would all be focused on you, but that didn't prevent you from having a moment when you could not breathe, could not believe you were the one they had come to see.
Chpt 1

focused = looking
He didn't turn to watch the kid go; instead he focused on the body directly in front of him.
Chpt 1

focused = looked
For now, though, we can just focus on you and how you're doing.
Chpt 1

focus = concentrate
She rubbed the small of the baby's back and watched the newborn's hazy blue eyes focus first on her mother.
Chpt 1

focus = adjust (to see clearly)
Lacy spun around, her eyes focusing on the girl who was speaking-the one who'd been reunited with her mother.
Chpt 1

focusing = looking
As the world came into focus, Peter realized how people looked when they glanced at him.
Chpt 1

focus = view (a state where something can be seen clearly)
'Preliminary reports are focusing on two pistols,' the anchor confided, just before his image disappeared.
Chpt 1 *

focusing = concentrating
What we all need, now, is to focus on the future.
Chpt 1

focus = concentrate
Deer in rut weren't as smart as usual-they were so focused on the does they were chasing, they forgot to avoid the humans who might be hunting them.
Chpt 1

focused = concentrating (on one thing and not paying attention to other things)
Just for once, could you not be a lawyer and focus instead on being a human?
Chpt 1

focus = concentrate
The focus of his paper involved putting a price on the variables of happiness.
Chpt 1

focus = place where attention is directed
She felt his gaze on her-hot, accusing-as he left, but she focused her attention on a job from a local bank instead.
Chpt 1

focused = concentrated
Josie would always make sure she had her nose in a book or her attention firmly focused on another conversation.
Chpt 1

focused = concentrating
There, Josie would focus on her homework until it became impossible to ignore Matt rubbing her shoulders or kissing her neck, and then they'd make out until they heard her mother's car pulling into the garage.
Chpt 1

focus = concentrate
But she focused on them, on keeping her voice measured and even, on giving weight to the name of each dead child.
Chpt 1

focused = concentrated
She settled down at the desk, wiggling the mouse so that the screen came back into focus.
Chpt 1

focus = view (a state where something can be seen clearly)
She rummaged through loose papers and makeup, so focused on her search that she didn't realize the banter between Drew and Courtney-or anyone else, for that matter-had fallen silent.
Chpt 1

focused = concentrating (on one thing and not paying attention to other things)
But he'd made it very clear that he didn't have time for Josie when he was getting ready; that he'd only get shit from the guys if she clung that closely; that Coach wanted the team to be alone to focus on their game.
Chpt 1

focus = concentrate
Josie felt her cheeks flame as the entire locker room burst into laughter at her expense, and the rude comments shifted focus from Matt to her.
Chpt 1

focus = where attention is concentrated
Just when you assumed winter would last forever, this unexpected beauty could take you by surprise-and if you did not take your eyes off it, if you kept your focus, the rest of the snow would somehow melt.
Chpt 2

focus = concentration
Zoe Patterson kept biting her nails, even though her mother had told her not to do that; even though a zillion pairs of eyes and (holy cow) television cameras were focused on her as she sat on the witness stand.
Chpt 2

focused = looking
She squinted, as if that might bring Josie into better focus.
Chpt 2

focus = view (a state where something can be seen clearly)
Derek looked up just then and noticed the television cameras in the back of the room. His jaw dropped, and he froze.
'Derek,' Diana said. 'Derek?' She waited for him to focus on her.
Chpt 2

focus = concentrate
The MRI scan showed that while he was focused on this task, it was the amygdala that was doing the work ... not the prefrontal cortex.
Chpt 2

focused = concentrating
I don't care-they used to stare at the zits on my face; now they just have another place to focus their attention.
Chpt 2

focus = concentrate
He would be, she decided, like the pictures of white beaches that birthing mothers sometimes brought in as a focal point.
Chpt 2

focal = place to concentrate attention
Instead, she focused on the medical needs of that newborn.
Chpt 2

focused = concentrated
Often, with fragile witnesses or young children, they'd plant a person as a focal point to make testifying less scary.
Chpt 2 *

focal = place to concentrate attention
He walked up to Peter, trying desperately to communicate that he needed focus here; he needed Peter to play along with him.
Chpt 2

focus = concentration
She was studiously avoiding anyone's gaze by focusing on the grain of the wood on the rail of the witness stand.
Chpt 2

focusing = looking
So instead, Josie found herself veering drunkenly from the soft-focus moments with Matt to the macabre.†
Chpt 1
She leaned toward him slowly, until her face was too close to be in focus.†
Chpt 1 *

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Best Example Sentences
From Other Sources
Grouped by 4 Meanings

Definitions:

(1) (focus as in: Turn your focus to question #2.)
to direct attention or effort toward a single thing; or the ability to do so without getting distracted
(2) (focus as in: The focus of our study is...)
where attention is concentrated or directed
(3) (focus as in: bring into focus; or out of focus)
a state where something has come into view or can be seen clearly; or an adjustment made to permit a clear view
(4) (focus as with technical usage)
technical usage typically involves some sense of center or concentration such as:
- physics — a point where things come together such as the point where light rays meet
- geometry — a fixed reference point (as of a parabola)
- geology — the point of origin of an earthquake
See a comprehensive dictionary for other less common meanings.
(5) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)

focus in Nineteen Minutes (Auto-generated)

focus
in
Nineteen Minutes
(Auto-generated)