backgrounds

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of background.

   The hiring panel valued candidates with varied professional backgrounds.

   The photographer blurred the busy backgrounds to keep attention on the subject.

   Note

   A plural that only some meanings of background take. For people's histories it counts easily: candidates from different backgrounds. In the sense of context or information it also works as a mass noun with no plural, as in some background on the dispute. On a film set the plural names people, the non-speaking extras. On a screen it names images, the pictures set behind desktop icons.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of background.

   The operating system backgrounds the process so the screen stays responsive.

   The narrator deliberately backgrounds the minor characters to spotlight the hero.

   Note

   It shares its spelling with the noun plural, so the sentence decides: with a subject in front (the editor backgrounds the detail), it is a verb. It usually takes a direct object, and it reaches beyond pictures. A rancher backgrounds calves, feeding them forage and grain before the feedlot. One trap: bare background can also be the past of backgrind, but this -s form belongs only to the placing verb.

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