Definition Definition

background - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'background' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Background [ n.]
- Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.
- The space which is behind and subordinate to a portrait or group of figures.
- Anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a background of red hangings.
- A place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight.

Meaning of 'background' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . background [ n]
Meaning (1):
- a person's social heritage: previous experience or training
Example in sentence:
  • he is a lawyer with a sports background
Meaning (2):
- the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground
Example in sentence:
  • he posed her against a background of rolling hills
Meaning (3):
- information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem
Example in sentence:
  • the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident
Meaning (4):
- extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured
Example in sentence:
  • they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals
Meaning (5):
- relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation
Example in sentence:
  • when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background
Meaning (6):
- the state of the environment in which a situation exists
Example in sentence:
  • you can't do that in a university setting
7 . background [ v]
Meaning (7):
- understate the importance or quality of
Example in sentence:
  • he played down his royal ancestry

Nearby Words:

bac baccalaureate baccara baccarat baccare baccate baccated bacchanal bacchanalia bacchanalian

See 'background' also in:

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