background
/bˈækgraʊnd/
Explore definitions, synonyms, and language insights of background
Definitions
Noun
a person''s social heritage: previous experience or training; "he is a lawyer with a sports background"
Noun
the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground; "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"
Noun
information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"
Noun
extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals"
Noun
relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"
Noun
the state of the environment in which a situation exists; "you can''t do that in a university setting"
Noun
(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
Noun
scenery hung at back of stage
Verb
understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"
Synonyms
backcloth
backdrop
background knowledge
background signal
desktop
downplay
ground
play down
scope
screen background
setting
More General Terms
accent
accentuate
accompaniment
aspect
attendant
concomitant
co-occurrence
CRT screen
disturbance
emphasise
emphasize
environment
heritage
information
inheritance
interference
noise
panorama
prospect
punctuate
scene
scenery
screen
stress
view
vista
More Specific Terms
background noise
background radiation
canvas
canvass
ground noise
show window
showcase
soft-pedal
wave off