hone in

verb

honed in; honing in; hones in

intransitive verb

: to move toward or focus attention on an objective

looking back for the ball honing in—

George Plimpton

a missile honing in on its target—

Bob Greene

hones in on the plights and victories of the common man—

Lisa Russell

Hone in vs. Home in: Usage Guide

Most usage commentators consider hone in to be a mistake for home in. The use may have arisen from home in by the weakening of the \m\ sound to \n\ or it may have developed simply because of the influence of hone, with perhaps an underlying sense that "honing" figuratively involves a narrowing or sharpening of focus. Whatever the explanation of its origins, it has established itself in American English and has begun to make a few inroads into British English as well. Even so, your use of it especially in writing is likely to be called a mistake. Home in or in figurative use zero in is an easy alternative.

Examples of hone in in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But now, according to an industry source, the groups are honing in on a question that was previously just in the background—why capital requirements need to go up at all. —

Courtenay Brown, Axios, 20 Sep. 2024 All three teams appear to be honing in on a foundational set of capabilities. —

Andrew Abela, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2024 Republicans are honing in on immigration and the economy as the core of their appeals to voters this year. —

Riley Beggin, USA TODAY, 11 Sep. 2024 The trio will be able to hone in on their pitches for the next couple of months, with a decision on who gets the job expected in June. —

Tom Tapp, Deadline, 9 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for hone in

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hone in.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.