All 26 Uses of

focus
in
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Every few minutes she braced one hand against the dashboard again and focused her breathing, which made him swallow and glance sideways at her, more nervous on that night than he could ever remember being.
p. 11.7

focused = concentrated

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to focus on his task.
p. 13.8

focus = concentrate, or look

He had delivered five babies during medical school, all live births and all successful, and he focused now on those, seeking in his memory the details of care.
p. 14.9

focused = concentrated, look at, or paid attention to

To the doctor, focused on what was immediately before him, she became not just herself but more than herself; a body like other bodies, a patient whose needs he must meet with every technical skill he had.
p. 15.1

focused = concentrated

She looked through the viewfinder, framing the ruined table again, then turned two different dials to find the focus.
p. 83.4

focus = adjust a lens to make an image clear

Her fault, if he'd been lost or hurt, because she'd been so focused on Phoebe, who'd reached for weeks now and had still not learned to grasp.
p. 101.6

focused = concentrating (on one thing and not paying attention to other things)

Let me take your picture, David had called, insistent, and she'd turned to find him, kneeling, focusing, intent on preserving a moment that never really existed.
p. 134.2

focusing = concentrating, looking, or pointing

He paused before Kay's tulips, focusing in close, thinking how much they really did resemble the delicate tissue of lungs and how interesting it would be to frame shots of both and stand them next to each other, exploring this idea he had that the body was, in some mysterious way, a perfect mirror of the world.
p. 149.4

focusing = adjusting a lens to make an image clear

It worked, as it always worked in the operating room, to focus his attention.
p. 195.6

focus = concentrate

"Let's stay focused here," David said at last.
p. 200.6

focused = looking, or concentrating

He remembered his father's hands, so focused and so gentle as he set the bones, and coming home again, into the bright golden light of the afternoon.
p. 285.2

focused = concentrating

"I'm focusing on Paul right now," she said, and then, sharply, she added, "Look, Sam, I've had it, actually."
p. 294.4

focusing = concentrating, or looking

David had moved through the world, focusing his camera on its smallest details, obsessed with light and shadow, trying to fix things in place.
p. 334.4

focusing = adjusting a lens to make an image clear

David must have been testing the range of his camera, keeping the subject the same and varying the focus, the aperture, the available light.
p. 363.8 *

focus = lens adjustment

It wasn't anger, strangely, but fear that rose up next, some old apprehension born of the pressure his father had focused on him as the only child.
p. 381.0

focused = concentrated, look at, or paid attention to

His father had delivered his own twins in the middle of an unexpected storm, following the steps he knew by heart, keeping his focus on the pulse and heart rate of the woman on the table, the taut skin, the crowning head.
p. 399.4 *

focus = concentration

Dr. Henry, working with such calm skill, his movements focused and precise.†
p. 22.5

Her face was set, resolute, focused and determined like Paul when he played music, setting himself against David's world and seeking another place.†
p. 273.1

Bree was speaking crisply now, focused and determined, as if she were giving an overview of accounts receivable.†
p. 298.3

She was young, just twenty-two, but she was tough and focused, carrying herself with the assurance of a woman years older.†
p. 313.1

Paul was standing up, waving across the park, the sadness on his face giving way to a joyous smile, intense, clearly focused, and exclusive.†
p. 334.5

She caught the woman's gaze and focused on her wide-set eyes, so blue, and then she knew.†
p. 366.3

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.