background
Pluralbackgrounds
Pluralbackgrounds
Formsbackgrounds, backgrounding, backgrounded
- 1The family, culture, and life experiences that a person comes from.
Like the roots of a tree you cannot see but that shaped how it grew.
She comes from a working-class background.
His background includes years of farm work.
UsageSay come from a poor background, or a background in music.
Similarupbringing, experience, origins
- 2The part of a picture or view that is behind the main thing you look at.
Like the wall behind people in a group photo.
In the photo, the mountains form the background behind her smiling face.
He painted a soft blue background so the flowers would stand out.
UsageUsually in the background, behind the main thing.
- 3Facts about past events that help you understand what is happening now.
Like the story behind a movie that helps you follow what happens.
The reporter gave us some background on the long dispute.
Before the meeting, she read the background on the new client.
UsageOften background on something: some background on the new client.
Similarcontext, history, information (entry), backstory
- 4A place where someone or something gets less attention or seems less important than others.
He is shy and likes to stay in the background at parties.
Once the new baby came, the old arguments faded into the background.
UsageOften stay in the background or fade into the background.
Oppositeforeground, forefront, spotlight
Note
- 5Less important or less easy to notice within a scene or system.
Like the quiet sound of a fan that you stop hearing after a while.
Soft background music played during dinner.
The constant hum became background noise nobody noticed.
UsageComes before another word: background music.
Similarsecondary, minor, peripheral, incidental
Oppositemain, central, primary
Note
- 6Work a computer does that you usually cannot see while you use it.
Like a dishwasher cleaning while you do other things in another room.
The app keeps downloading files in the background while you read.
Updates run quietly in the background without bothering you.
UsageUsually runs in the background.
Oppositeforeground
Note
- 7The picture or color shown behind the icons on a computer screen.
Like the wallpaper on the wall behind the furniture in a room.
She set a photo of the beach as her desktop background.
I changed my computer's background to a photo of my dog.
UsageSay set a photo as your background.
Similarwallpaper
- 8Short for background radiation. It names the low-level radiation around us all the time, mostly from natural sources.
The Geiger counter clicked slowly, picking up only the normal background.
Cosmic rays add to the background we are exposed to every day.
Note
Less common meanings
- 9To move something to a less important place.
Like pushing toys to the back of a shelf to make room at the front.
Many old history books background the lives of ordinary women.
The movie backgrounds the war and puts the love story first.
Similardownplay
Oppositeforeground, highlight, emphasize, prioritize
Note
- 10To put something behind the main thing in a picture or scene.
Like placing a big sign at the front and smaller ones behind it.
In my drawing, I will background the house and put the dog in front.
The editor backgrounded the crowd to highlight the speaker.
Note
- 11To collect and share facts about the history of a topic or person.
Like reading about a team before you watch them play.
Reporters often background a candidate before a big interview.
The team backgrounded the story for weeks before publishing.
Similarcontextualize
Note
- 12A person who appears behind the main action in a film scene and has no speaking role.
She worked as background on several movie sets last year.
The director asked the background to walk slowly past the café window.
Similarextras
Note
- 13To feed a young calf grass and grain to build it up before the next stage of cattle raising.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from putting together "back" and "ground."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Background was formed by combining back and ground. en.wiktionary.org