English dictionary
background meaning and definition
Definition and meaning of background at MeaningMonkey.org. background meaning and definition in the English Dictionary.BACKGROUND noun
Definition of 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
- "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"
- synonyms: ground
- information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem
- "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"
- synonyms: background knowledge
- 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"
- synonyms: background signal
- 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
- (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
- synonyms: desktop, screen background
- scenery hung at back of stage
BACKGROUND verb
Definition of background (verb)
- understate the importance or quality of
- "he played down his royal ancestry"
- synonyms: downplay, play down
- antonym: foreground
Source: Princeton University Wordnet