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 The Trump interview noticeably covered more ground, whereas Baier honed in on several specific areas with Harris, like questions about the border and President Joe Biden’s mental acuity. —

Brian Stelter, CNN, 17 Oct. 2024 Some folks even like adjusting the tracking speed—faster or slower—to really hone in on the custom experience. —

Stack Commerce, Popular Science, 2 Oct. 2024 With a deep understanding of honing in on the dynamics of Raúl’s increasingly claustrophobic surroundings, Figueroa creates a rich and intense familiarity, the disturbing and vivid portrait of the protagonist as his sanity unfurls makes for mind-bending fare. —

Holly Jones, Variety, 23 Sep. 2024 The program hones in on ideation, UX user testing and marketing, and leadership and storytelling. —

Essence, 4 Oct. 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.