ALL meanings of background
back·ground
B b - countable noun background Your background is the kind of family you come from and the kind of education you have had. It can also refer to such things as your social and racial origins, your financial status, or the type of work experience that you have. 3
- countable noun background The background to an event or situation consists of the facts that explain what caused it. 3
- singular noun background The background is sounds, such as music, which you can hear but which you are not listening to with your full attention. 3
- countable noun background You can use background to refer to the things in a picture or scene that are less noticeable or important than the main things or people in it. 3
- noun background the part of a scene or view furthest from the viewer 3
- noun background an inconspicuous or unobtrusive position (esp in the phrase in the background) 3
- noun background (as modifier) 3
- noun background the plane or ground in a picture upon which all other planes or forms appear superimposed 3
- noun background the parts of a picture that appear most distant 3
- noun background a person's social class, education, training, or experience 3
- noun background the social, historical, or technical circumstances that lead up to or help to explain something 3
- noun background a low level of sound, lighting, etc, whose purpose is to be an unobtrusive or appropriate accompaniment to something else, such as a social activity, conversation, or the action of a film 3
- noun background low-intensity radiation as, for example, from small amounts of radioisotopes in soil, air, building materials, etc 3
- noun background unwanted effects, such as noise, occurring in a measuring instrument, electronic device, etc 3
- noun background the part of a scene or picture that is or seems to be toward the back 3
- noun background surroundings, esp. those behind something and providing harmony or contrast; surface against which something is seen 3
- noun background a less important or unobtrusive place or position 3
- noun background the whole of one's study, training, and experience 3
- noun background the circumstances or conditions surrounding something 3
- noun background the events leading up to something 3
- noun background information which will help to explain something 3
- noun background music (in full background music) or sound effects used as a subordinated accompaniment to dialogue or action, as in movies 3
- noun background any of various unwanted, interfering effects produced or registered by apparatus of various kinds, as static in radio or radiation due to cosmic rays 3
- verb transitive background to provide a background for 3
- noun Technical meaning of background 1. (operating system) A task running in the background (a background task) is detached from the terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower priority); opposite of foreground. This means that the task's input and output must be from/to files (or other processes). Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix, but it appears to have been first used in this sense on OS/360. Compare amp off, batch, slopsucker. 2. (jargon) For a human to do a task "in the background" is to do it whenever foreground matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and "to background" something means to relegate it to a lower priority. "For now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing problem in the background." Note that this implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream "back burner" (which connotes benign neglect until some future resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (often a fruitful tack to take upon encountering an obstacle in creative work). 1
- noun background the ground or parts, as of a scene, situated in the rear (opposed to foreground). 1
- noun background Fine Arts. the part of a painted or carved surface against which represented objects and forms are perceived or depicted: a portrait against a purple background. the part of an image represented as being at maximum distance from the frontal plane. 1
- noun background one's origin, education, experience, etc., in relation to one's present character, status, etc. 1
- noun background the social, historical, and other antecedents or causes of an event or condition: the background of the war. 1
- noun background the complex of physical, cultural, and psychological factors that serves as the environment of an event or experience; the set of conditions against which an occurrence is perceived. 1
- noun background Physics. the totality of effects that tend to obscure a phenomenon under investigation and above which the phenomenon must be detected. 1
- noun background Telecommunications. (in an electronic device for transmitting or receiving signals) the sum of the effects, as noise or random signals, from which a phenomenon must differentiate itself in character or degree in order to be detected. 1
- adjective background of, relating to, or serving as a background: background noise. 1
- verb with object background to supply a background to: The passenger's idle thoughts were backgrounded by the drone of the plane's engines. 1
- verb with object background to supply a background of information for: To background themselves, reporters dug through all available files on the case. 1
- idioms background in / into the background, unobtrusive; inconspicuous; out of sight or notice; in or into obscurity: He kept his dishonest dealings in the background. 1
- noun background area behind 1
- noun background art: behind subject 1
- noun background context 1
- noun background career experience 1
- noun background upbringing 1
- adjective background in the background 1
- noun background The area or scenery behind the main object of contemplation, especially when perceived as a framework for it. 1
- noun background One's social heritage; what one did in the past/previously. 0
- noun background A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context. 0
- noun background Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history. 0
- noun background A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground). 0
- noun background (computing) The image or color, over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows). 0
- noun background (computing) Activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user. 0
- verb background To put in a position that is not prominent. 0