background

/ˈbæk.(ɡ)ɹaʊnd/

background adjective: less important or less noticeable in a scene or system. Also the ellipsis of background radiation.

Adjective

background (not comparable)

Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.
- background noise
- The antivirus program runs on a background thread.

Noun

background (countable and uncountable, plural backgrounds)

One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past.
- The lawyer had a background in computer science.
A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.
- Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close[…]above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to...2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 06 Mar 2016, pages 206–207
An extra who appears in the background, with no speaking role.
Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.

Synonyms:

canvas
A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground).
- There was tons of noise in the background.
- The photographer let us pick a background for the portrait.
The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).
A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.
- The antivirus program is running in the background.

Verb

background (third-person singular simple present backgrounds, present participle backgrounding, simple past and past participle backgrounded)

(transitive) To place in the background.
- Ha! I see Venus’ transit now;—lo! a new planet there;—and behind all, an infinite starry nebulousness, as if thy being were backgrounded by some spangled vail of mystery.1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities
(figuratively, transitive) To put in a position that is not prominent.
- One aspect of the story that appears interesting is that the alleged rapist and victim are only referred to by name together in the same sentence once. In all the other sentences, one receives more focus, while the other is backgrounded.2006, Paul Baker, Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis, page 163
Synonyms:

downplay
To gather and provide background information (on).
(transitive) To increase the weight and immunity of (a calf) by feeding with forage and grains, as an intermediate stage in cattle production, between weaning and placement in a feedlot.

Also used as

background is also the ellipsis of background radiation.

background is also the simple past and past participle of backgrind.

background meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Malayalam

background in Hindi

part of picture: पृष्ठभूमि pŕṣṭhbhūmi
relevant information: पृष्ठभूमि pŕṣṭhbhūmi

background in Marathi

computing: computer background: बॅकग्राउंड bĕkagrāuṇḍa
social heritage: पार्श्वभूमी pārśvabhūmī
part of picture: पार्श्वभूमी pārśvabhūmī

background in Telugu

నేపథ్యం, నేపథ్యము

background in Malayalam

പശ്ചാത്തലം, പശ്ചാത്തലവൽക്കരണം

More languagesFewer languages

background in Kannada: ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ hinnele
background in Gujarati: પૃષ્ઠભૂમિ, બેકગ્રાઉન્ડ, પશ્ચાદભૂ
background in Odia: ପୃଷ୍ଠଭୂମି, ପୃଷ୍ଠଭୂମିର
background in Nepali: पृष्ठभूमि, पृष्ठभूमिका
background in Tagalog: sanligan
background in Arabic: خلفية ḵalfiyya
background in Malay: latar belakang
background in Persian: پسزمینه pas-zamine
background in Vietnamese: hình nền, nền, cơ sở, bối cảnh

Examples of background in a sentence

The steady tick of the clock provided a comforting background for the conversation.
The juxtaposition of the bright yellows on the dark background made the painting appear three dimensional.
She's scrubbing her social media accounts before the background check begins.

All 40 example sentences with background

Synonyms of background

Antonyms

Forms of background

Adjective
alternative form (obsolete)	back ground
Noun
plural	backgrounds
Verb
third-person singular present	backgrounds
present participle	backgrounding
past participle	backgrounded
past	backgrounded

Plural of background: backgrounds

Origin of background

From back + ground. Compare backstory.

Phrases with background

Questions about background

What does background mean?: Background means less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.
What is background in Hindi?: Background in Hindi is पृष्ठभूमि (pŕṣṭhbhūmi). See Background meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is background?: Background can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce background?: Background is pronounced /ˈbæk.(ɡ)ɹaʊnd/.

Words near background in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: background (page history and authors); background (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); background (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); background (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); background (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); background (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-background.ogg.

Cite this entry: “background.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/background. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.