overfocus

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ focus.

Verb

overfocus (third-person singular simple present overfocuses or overfocusses, present participle overfocusing or overfocussing, simple past and past participle overfocused or overfocussed)

1. To focus excessively (on a particular subject to the exclusion of others)

Noun

overfocus (uncountable)

1. (rare) Excessive focus.
   • 1913, Henry Mills Alden, Thomas Bucklin Wells, Lee Foster Hartman, Frederick Lewis Allen, Harper's Magazine‎^[1], Harper & Brothers, page 114:

     Yet it is a knowledge that remains an outsider's knowledge, and confined to the outside of things. O'Hara has never been truly of the rich as Edith Wharton was, and he has always reported the manners of the upper classes with a glaring overfocus, a visible nervous stress, as if unable to shake off some inner lack of ease.

   • 1996, Suzanne H. Stevens, The LD Child and the ADHD Child: Ways Parents and Professionals Can Help‎^[2], J.F. Blair Publisher, →ISBN, page 43:

     The overfocus tends to kick on during whole-body, hands-on activities that the individual enjoys. It keeps musicians playing and actors performing long into the night.

Further reading

• “overfocus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “overfocus” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.