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Devote vs Focus - What's the difference?

devote | focus |

As verbs the difference between devote and focus

is that devote is to give one's time, focus one's efforts, commit oneself, etc. entirely for, on, or to a certain matter while focus is to cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.

As an adjective devote

is devoted; addicted; devout.

As a noun focus is

a point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.

devote

English

Verb

(devot)
  • To give one's time, focus one's efforts, commit oneself, etc. entirely for, on, or to a certain matter.
  • They devoted their lives to following Jesus Christ.
    I devoted this afternoon to repainting my study, and nothing will get in my way.
  • * Grew
  • They devoted themselves unto all wickedness.
  • * Gray
  • a leafless and simple branch devoted to the purpose of climbing
  • To consign over; to doom.
  • to devote one to destruction
    The city was devoted to the flames.
  • To execrate; to curse.
  • Usage notes

    * Often used in the past participle form, which has become an adjective. See devoted.

    Derived terms

    * devotion

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Devoted; addicted; devout.
  • (Milton)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    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