Background - definition, pronunciation, transcription

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Amer.  |ˈbækɡraʊnd|  American pronunciation of the word background
Brit.  |ˈbækɡræʊnd|  British pronunciation of the word background

noun

- a person's social heritage: previous experience or training
he is a lawyer with a sports background
- the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground (syn: ground)
he posed her against a background of rolling hills
- information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem
the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident
- 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
- relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation
when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background
- the state of the environment in which a situation exists (syn: scope, setting)
- (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear (syn: desktop)
- scenery hung at back of stage (syn: backcloth, backdrop)

verb

- understate the importance or quality of (syn: downplay)

Extra examples

Objects in the foreground are drawn larger than those in the background.

An ethnic conflict that was simmering away in the background finally erupted into civil war.

Let me provide you with some background on this problem.

The music served as a background to the recitation of poetry.

Steve has a background in computer engineering.

Students with a background in chemistry will probably find the course easier.

It's important to understand other people, people from different backgrounds.

Cultural background might account for some of the variations noted in the studies.

They told me everything there was to know about the child's family background.

Without knowing the background to the case, I couldn't possibly comment.

The peace talks are being held against a background of increasing violence.

The author included a new chapter of background material for the second edition of the book.

The background looks out of focus.

In the background you can see my college friends.

In the background I could hear the sound of traffic.

Word forms

noun
singular: background
plural: backgrounds
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