To focus means to direct your attention or effort toward one specific thing while ignoring distractions. When you focus on your homework, you concentrate on the problems in front of you instead of thinking about what's for dinner or listening to conversations around you. A photographer focuses a camera by adjusting the lens until the subject appears sharp and clear, while everything else blurs into the background.

Focus works like a magnifying glass concentrating sunlight into a powerful beam. When you scatter your attention across ten different things, you make little progress on any of them. But when you focus that same mental energy on one task, you can accomplish something significant.

The word also describes the center of activity or attention. The focus of a story might be a character's struggle to overcome a challenge. The focus of a class discussion could be understanding photosynthesis. When something is in focus, it's clear and sharp. When it's out of focus, it looks blurry and hard to see.

Athletes talk about maintaining their focus during competition, which means keeping their minds on the game instead of worrying about the crowd or the score. Scientists focus their research on specific questions. Writers focus their essays on particular themes. The ability to focus, to give something your complete attention despite distractions, makes difficult work possible.