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 Others hone in on the world-building, painting Gotham in bright carnival colors filled with equally iridescent wackos or stripping it down to a monochrome shadow where bad guys emerge from every darkened corner. —

Ben Travers, IndieWire, 1 Aug. 2024 The classic gameshow’s spinoff program was announced in May, and as its title suggests, rather than focusing on the more typical Jeopardy categories, the new program will hone in more specifically on pop culture like movies, TV, music, and broadway. —

Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 31 July 2024 Harley Quinn hones in on the iconic comics romance between Harley (voiced by Kaley Cucuo in the show) and fellow baddie Poison Ivy (Lake Bell), which hasn’t been explored in the official movies (although Robbie would certainly be in favor of that). —

Abby Monteil, Them, 23 July 2024 Taylor Wilson: And beyond Social Security, are there any other issues that caregivers are really honing in on in particular this election cycle? —

Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 15 July 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.