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What is "focal point"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
focal point
noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The kitchen is usually the focal point of the home.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Again the castle formed the focal point of the walls.
▪ Everybody fussed over his brilliance to a great degree; he was a focal point at our school.
▪ It is the focal point of a permanent campaign to give independence through personal transport to as many people as possible.
▪ More importantly, it becomes the focal point in the player's mind.
▪ The state-sponsored agro-industrial cooperatives are the focal point for this discussion of the creation of an industrial proletariat.
▪ Those loans are the focal point of the bad-debt crisis plaguing the financial system and weighing down the economy.
Wiktionary
focal point

n. 1 (context optics English) A focus; a point at which rays of light or other radiation converge. 2 The centre of any activity.

WordNet
focal point

  1. n. a point of convergence of light (or other radiation) or a point from which it diverges [syn: focus]

  2. a central point or locus of an infection in an organism; "the focus of infection" [syn: focus, nidus]

Wikipedia
Focal point

Focal point may refer to:

  • Focus (optics), the point at which initially collimated rays of light meet after passing through a convex lens, or reflecting from a concave mirror
  • In Fine art, a Focal Point focuses specifically on a point of interest which makes a canvas unique. (e.g. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer)
  • In mathematics:
    • Focus (geometry), a special point used in describing conic sections
    • Focal point is a Critical point of a distance function
  • In an antenna (electronics):
    • The driven element, directly connected to the transmission line or source
    • The passive radiator, a conductive element which is not electrically connected to anything else
  • Focal point (game theory), an equilibrium more likely to be chosen by the players because it seems special, natural or relevant to them
  • In computer programs, Telelogic Focal Point is a configurable Web-based decision support platform for requirements management, product management and project portfolio management.
  • Focal Point (album), a 1976 studio album by McCoy Tyner
  • Focal Point, an imprint of National Geographic
  • In business, the person or organization responsible for the coordination of activities and tasks among several groups or networks
  • Among science fiction fanzines, a fanzine which in its era was central to the fannish culture of the day
  • In IT service management, the person or entity responsible for coordinating service delivery and acting as an escalation point for service delivery failures
  • In computer software category, FocalPoint (software), is a project administration and timesheet registration software by The Access Group.
  • Focal Point, a hardcore punk band from the 1990s featuring Ryan Clark
  • The publishing house of controversial historian David Irving
Focal point (game theory)

In game theory, a focal point (also called Schelling point) is a solution that people will tend to use in the absence of communication, because it seems natural, special, or relevant to them. The concept was introduced by the Nobel Memorial Prize-winning American economist Thomas Schelling in his book The Strategy of Conflict (1960). In this book (at p. 57), Schelling describes "focal point[s] for each person’s expectation of what the other expects him to expect to be expected to do". This type of focal point later was named after Schelling. He further explains that such points are highly useful in negotiations, because we cannot completely trust our negotiating partners' words.

Focal Point (album)

Focal Point is a 1976 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his tenth to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in August 1976 and features performances by Tyner with Charles Fambrough and Eric Gravatt.

Usage examples of "focal point".

Lit by crisscrossed strips on the ceiling and walls, its focal point was a decorative air-circulation grille.

The focal point of the spell cannot be alive or heavier than 100 pounds.

The focal point was being drawn inexorably to the point and purpose of his existence, whether he liked it or not.

NYLAN USED THE tongs to swing the rough bow frame into the focal point of the laser, struggling to keep the power flows smooth and still shape the metal around the composite core.

Strange habits indeed, he mused, for people who lived so near a focal point of malevolence.

The second focal point round which mythological elements appear to gather is the point of departure of Jesus from the scene of history: In the birth narratives the apocryphal gospels show in an exaggerated form the tendency to use mythological material, so, in a similar way, the resurrection narratives of the apocryphal gospels, as, for instance, the apocryphal gospel of Peter, show the tendency to magnify the mythical element which already appears to some extent in the canonical gospels.

North of the city, beyond the sheltered ports of Kale and Seth and across the twisted straits that separated two continents, a spiral of wild currents swirled to a focal point so thick with notes and measurements that he could hardly make out its position.

The residents lit a bonfire each night, using it to bake food, and as a focal point for company.

It forms something of a front yard - and a focal point as I look up from my keyboard and gaze out the dormer window from my third-floor study.

We need a focal point, a leader around whom the Imperial forces can rally.

If you looked at it logically, she was the focal point of all this corruption.

It is truly odd, this particular Focal Point, for it seems to broadcast directly to me.