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Focus vs Recognize - What's the difference?

focus | recognize |

In transitive terms the difference between focus and recognize

is that focus is to adjust (a lens, an optical instrument) in order to position an image with respect to the focal plane while recognize is to give an award.

As a noun focus

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

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

    recognize

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) reconoistre, from (etyl) recognoscere, first attested in the 16th century. Displaced native English , compare German erkennen.

    Alternative forms

    * recognise (non-Oxford British spelling)

    Verb

    (recogniz) (North American and Oxford British spelling)
  • To match something or someone which one currently perceives to a memory of some previous encounter with the same entity.
  • * 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I,
  • He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days, and he felt a genuine thrill of pleasure when he recognized the red bandana turban of old Aunt Lyddy, the ancient negro woman who had sold him gingerbread and fried fish, and told him weird tales of witchcraft and conjuration, in the old days when, as an idle boy, he had loafed about the market-house.
  • To acknowledge the existence or legality of something; treat as valid or worthy of consideration.
  • To acknowledge or consider as something.
  • To realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in; realize or admit that.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
  • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.}}
  • To give an award.
  • To show appreciation of.
  • to recognize services by a testimonial
  • (obsolete) To review; to examine again.
  • (South)
  • (obsolete) To reconnoiter.
  • Derived terms
    * recognizability * recognizable * recognizably * recognizance * recognizant * recognization * recognizee * recognizer * recognizor

    Etymology 2

    From re-'' + ''cognize

    Alternative forms

    * re-cognize

    Verb

    (recogniz) (North American and Oxford British spelling)
  • To cognize again.