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Focus vs Glimpse - What's the difference?

focus | glimpse |

In transitive terms the difference between focus and glimpse

is that focus is to adjust (a lens, an optical instrument) in order to position an image with respect to the focal plane while glimpse is to see or view briefly or incompletely.

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

    glimpse

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A brief look, glance, or peek.
  • :
  • *(Samuel Rogers) (1763-1855)
  • *:Here hid by shrub wood, there by glimpses seen.
  • *
  • *:Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.
  • A sudden flash.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Light as the lightning glimpse they ran.
  • A faint idea; an inkling.
  • Verb

    (glimps)
  • To see or view briefly or incompletely.
  • I have only begun to glimpse the magnitude of the problem.
  • To appear by glimpses.
  • (Drayton)

    Synonyms

    * perceive, notice, detect, spot, catch sight of