All 27 Uses of

focus

in

The Lovely Bones

As she left the outer office that day, she appeared to be looking into the eyes of the secretaries, but she was focusing on their misapplied lipstick or two-piece paisley crepe de chine instead.
Chpt 2

focusing = concentrating

It took a few days and some non-Susie-Salmon-focused research, but Ruth discovered why she had eaten the entire pie in one sitting.
Chpt 3

I focused very hard on the dead geranium in his line of vision. I thought if I could make it bloom he would have his answer.
Chpt 4

I tried to keep my eyes focused on the gleaming gold rings on her fingers.
Chpt 9

focused = looking

She focused again and looked at him.
Chpt 9

focused = concentrated on the matter at hand

Once he was among the rows of corn, his focus solely on the light, the wind disguised his presence.
Chpt 11

focus = attention

He had to seek out her eyes. They weren't focusing on him.
Chpt 12

focusing = looking

She would focus on him for a few minutes, and then she would allow herself to drift away from her house and home and think of Len.
Chpt 13

focus = concentrate

My mother focused her eyes in front of her but stayed connected to her mother with her hand.
Chpt 13

focused = looked with

She stood only a few feet from the open window, knowing that she would, no matter what, be walking farther in and that she had to, no matter what, calm and focus herself to look for clues;
Chpt 14

focus = get into a state of directed attention or concentration

Smiling hard as our mother tried to focus her camera.
Chpt 14 *

focus = adjust a lens for a sharp image

My sister sat down on the wide steps at the bottom of the front hall and closed her eyes, focused on regaining her breath, on why she was in Mr. Harvey's house in the first place.
Chpt 14

focused = concentrated

If, as she stretched out on the rug in the one warm spot that the house seemed to hold in the winter, she could not help but turn over and over again her husband's absences in her mind, she would let them consume her until her body pled for her to let him go and to focus—as she leaned forward, her arms outstretched toward her toes now—and move, to shut her brain off and forget everything but the slight and pleasant yearning of muscles stretching and her own body bending.
Chpt 16

focus = concentrate

Here was this girl, focused, mad, fifteen.
Chpt 16

focused = concentrating on the matter at hand

On her days off, she would walk down the streets of Sausalito or Santa Rosa—tiny upscale towns where everyone was a stranger—and, no matter how hard she tried to focus on the hopeful unfamiliar, when she walked inside a gift shop or café the four walls around her would begin to breathe like a lung.
Chpt 16

focus = concentrate

But by mile three they were silent, pushing their feet forward in a natural rhythm they had both known for years, focusing on the sound of their own breath and the sound of their wet shoes hitting the pavement.
Chpt 17

focusing = concentrating

It was what Lindsey, in her workouts, called an active rest; my muscles were still engaged but my focus relaxed.
Chpt 17

focus = attention

And then, when they finally shivered to a halt, she gave up and focused only on getting off the plane.
Chpt 19 *

focused = concentrated

The woman did not see my mother looking at her, and as soon as she saw her face my mother turned her attention away, focusing on the bright lights of the old diner she had as her goal.
Chpt 20

focusing = looking

Her dinner arrived, the chicken-fried steak and tea, and she focused on her food, on the gritty breading around the rubbery meat, on the metallic taste of old tea.
Chpt 20

focused = concentrated

But my father was focused on the prospect Len presented—my murder case reopening.
Chpt 21

focused = concentrating

With each section of road he covered, I focused on Lindsey inside reading her textbooks, on the facts jumping up from the pages and into her brain, on how smart she was and how whole.
Chpt 21

focused = concentrated

I focused my eyes on his through the white translucent liner Hal kept for a curtain—he was a dark shape with a hundred small pinpoints of light surrounding him.
Chpt 22

focused = looked

Definitions:

(1) (focus as in: Turn your focus to question #2.)
verb: to concentrate, look at, or pay attention to

noun: the act of concentration, or the ability to concentrate

(to concentrate is to direct attention or effort towards a single thing)
(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)