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Meaning of background in English

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˈbækˌɡraʊnd/

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  1. Verb

    background

    Definitions

    1. understate the importance or quality of

    Examples

    • « he played down his royal ancestry »

    Antonyms

    • foreground
    • highlight
    • spotlight
    • play up
    • foreground
    • highlight
    • spotlight
    • play up
  2. Noun

    background

    Definitions

    1. a person's social heritage: previous experience or training

    Examples

    • « he is a lawyer with a sports background »
  3. 2. the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground

    Examples

    • « he posed her against a background of rolling hills »
  4. 3. information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem

    Examples

    • « the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident »
  5. 4. extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured

    Examples

    • « they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals »
  6. 5. relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation

    Examples

    • « when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background »
  7. 6. the state of the environment in which a situation exists

    Examples

    • « you can't do that in a university setting »
  8. 7. (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
  9. 8. scenery hung at back of stage

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