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Choose vs Focus - What's the difference?

choose | focus |

As verbs the difference between choose and focus

is that choose is to pick; to make the choice of; to select while focus is to cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.

As nouns the difference between choose and focus

is that choose is (dialectal|or|obsolete) the act of choosing; selection while focus is (countable|optics) a point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.

As a conjunction choose

is (mathematics) the binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.

choose

English

(Choice)

Alternative forms

* chuse

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .

Verb

  • To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
  • :
  • *
  • *:The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
  • To elect.
  • :
  • To decide to act in a certain way.
  • :
  • To wish; to desire; to prefer.
  • *(Oliver Goldsmith) (1730-1774)
  • *:The landlady now returned to know if we did not choose a more genteel apartment.
  • Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (mathematics) The binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.
  • The number of distinct subsets of size ''k'' from a set of size ''n'' is \tbinom nk or "''n'' choose ''k''".
    See also
    * (projectlink)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (chooses)
  • (dialectal, or, obsolete) The act of choosing; selection.
  • (dialectal, or, obsolete) The power, right, or privilege of choosing; election.
  • (dialectal, or, obsolete) Scope for choice.
  • References

    * * *

    focus

    English

    (wikipedia focus)

    Noun

  • (countable, optics) A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
  • (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.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus'.
  • (uncountable, photography, cinematography) The quality of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
  • (uncountable) Concentration of attention.
  • (countable, seismology) The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions.
  • (computing, graphical user interface) The indicator of the currently active element in a user interface.
  • (linguistics) The most important word or phrase in a sentence or passage, or the one that imparts information.
  • Verb

  • To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.
  • 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.
  • To concentrate one's attention.
  • Focus on passing the test.
  • To concentrate one’s attention.
  • If you're going to beat your competitors, you need to focus .

    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

    * focus group * in focus * out of focus