zero in on something
to focus one's attention on something
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Major players ZERO IN ON cloud computing market
(Washington Post)
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Police ZERO IN ON trouble hotspots
(The London Guardian)
(Washington Post)
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Police ZERO IN ON trouble hotspots
(The London Guardian)
Did you
know?
zero in on something
idiom
- to direct your attention towards a particular thing
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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According to the Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, the expression "zero in on" stems from the practice of adjusting or calibrating an instrument or device to zero point and also from taking aim at a target. But where did the concept of zero stem from? The Scientific American magazine offers an explanation:
The first evidence we have of zero is from the Sumerian culture in Mesopotamia, some 5,000 years ago. There, a slanted double wedge was inserted between cuneiform (a type of script that uses wedges) symbols for numbers. It was used as a placeholder to indicate the absence of a digit in a string of numbers (as we would write 102, the '0' indicating no digit in the tens column).
The symbol changed over time as positional notation (for which zero was crucial), made its way to the Babylonian empire and from there to India, via the Greeks (in whose own culture zero made a late and only occasional appearance; the Romans had no trace of it at all).
Arab merchants brought the zero they found in India to the West. After many adventures and much opposition, the symbol we use today was accepted and the concept flourished, as zero took on much more than a positional meaning. Since then, it has played a vital role in mathematizing the world.
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SYNONYMS
hone in on something, home in on something
Note - Some experts consider "hone in" a misspelling and mispronunciation of "home in", but both are used synonymously with "zero in on".
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Being profitable in tough economic times requires that a company zeroes in on the financials."
idiom
- to direct your attention towards a particular thing
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
According to the Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, the expression "zero in on" stems from the practice of adjusting or calibrating an instrument or device to zero point and also from taking aim at a target. But where did the concept of zero stem from? The Scientific American magazine offers an explanation:
The first evidence we have of zero is from the Sumerian culture in Mesopotamia, some 5,000 years ago. There, a slanted double wedge was inserted between cuneiform (a type of script that uses wedges) symbols for numbers. It was used as a placeholder to indicate the absence of a digit in a string of numbers (as we would write 102, the '0' indicating no digit in the tens column).
The symbol changed over time as positional notation (for which zero was crucial), made its way to the Babylonian empire and from there to India, via the Greeks (in whose own culture zero made a late and only occasional appearance; the Romans had no trace of it at all).
Arab merchants brought the zero they found in India to the West. After many adventures and much opposition, the symbol we use today was accepted and the concept flourished, as zero took on much more than a positional meaning. Since then, it has played a vital role in mathematizing the world.
---
SYNONYMS
hone in on something, home in on something
Note - Some experts consider "hone in" a misspelling and mispronunciation of "home in", but both are used synonymously with "zero in on".
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Being profitable in tough economic times requires that a company zeroes in on the financials."
