zero in

verb

Etymology

The phrase possibly comes from adjusting a sighting mechanism of a firearm to minimise the discrepancy between where the sight points and where a bullet lands on a target. Another possible source is the Cartesian coordinate system in mathematics. In the coordinate system, points are defined relative to an origin (point of reference) labeled O, which has an (x,y) coordinate pair of (0,0).

Definitions

1
To focus one's aim
To focus one's aim; to zoom in and center (on something).
- The pilot zeroed in on the bunker and launched a guided missile.
- Zero in and find a watermark in the image.
2
To successfully narrow down a search (for).
- We have zeroed in on the source of the problem.
- See if you can zero in on the caller.
3
To concentrate or focus one's attention (on a task).
- One member of the check fraud team will zero in on the fingerprints.
- Scholarship suggests that pop culture feminists have correctly zeroed in on sexual double standards as a key source of gender inequality in sexuality.
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
1. 4
  To converge (on).
  - At the spring sale, everyone zeroed in on the bargain clothes.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for zero in. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA