zero

zero in (on someone or something)

to aim directly at someone or something. The television camera zeroed in on the little boy scratching his head. The commercial zeroed in on the glass of cola. Mary is very good about zeroing in on the most important and helpful ideas.

zero tolerance

absolutely no toleration of even the smallest infraction of a rule. Because of the zero tolerance rule, the kindergartner was expelled from school because his mother accidentally left a table knife in his lunch box.

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a zero-sum game

a situation where two people compete and if one of them wins anything, exactly the same must be lost by the other Radio has become a zero-sum game, with stations gaining listeners only at each other's expense.

See also: game

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zero in (on something)

to direct your attention to one particular thing My son's teacher was able to zero in and deal with his problems. She needs to really zero in on what's important instead of going off on a lot of tangents.