Focus vs Major - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between focus and major

is that focus is a point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge while major is a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel.

As verbs the difference between focus and major

is that focus is to cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point while major is to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university.

As an adjective major is

of great significance or importance.

As a proper noun Major is

{{surname}.

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

major
English

Alternative forms
* majour (obsolete)
Etymology 1
From (etyl)
Alternative forms
* (abbreviation)
Noun
(wikipedia major)
(en noun), or, when used as a title before a person's name , Major

a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel

He used to be a major in the army.

This is Major Jones.

Usage notes
When used as a title, it is always capitalized. : Example: Major Jane Payne. The rank corresponds to pay grade O-4. Abbreviations: Maj. and MAJ.
Related terms
* majority * sergeant-major
Etymology 2
(etyl) , from Proto-Indo-European *ma?-yes-'' "greater", comparative of ''*ma?-, *me?- , "great".
Adjective

Of great significance or importance.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Karen McVeigh
, volume=189, issue=2, page=10, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= US rules human genes can't be patented , passage=The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.}}
Greater in number, quantity, or extent.

the major part of the assembly

Of full legal age; having attained majority.

(music) Of a scale which follows the pattern: tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone - semitone

a major scale.

(music) Being the larger of two intervals denoted by the same ordinal number.

(music) Containing the note which is a major third (four half steps) above the tonic.

Derived terms
* majorly
Antonyms
* minor
Noun
(en noun)
(US, Canada, Australia, and, New Zealand) The main area of study of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.

Midway through his second year of college, he still hadn't chosen a major .

(US, Canada, Australia, and, New Zealand) A student at a college or university concentrating on a given area of study.

She is a math major .

A person of legal age.

(logic) The major premise.

(Canadian football) An alternate term for touchdown; short for "major score".

A large, commercially successful record label, as opposed to an indie.

* 2005 , Billboard (volume 117, number 3, 15 January 2005, page 36)

He says Ninja Tune retains the master and publishing rights on most of its catalog, making it easy to license quickly. Yet as majors jump on the videogame bandwagon, he fears indies may lose that outlet.

Antonyms
* (a person of legal age) minor
Verb
(en verb)
to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university

I have decided to major in mathematics.

Anagrams
* ----