backstory
Syllables: back·story/ˈbækˌstɔːɹi/US/ˈbækˌstɔɹi/
backstory noun: the previous experiences and life of a person, specifically (narratology, especially in film, television) a character in a dramatic work.
Noun
backstory (plural backstories)
- The previous experiences and life of a person, specifically (narratology, especially in film, television) a character in a dramatic work.
- What’s the backstory of our new colleague?
- These backstories cast the characters' behavior in a new light: of course Gertrude would promptly marry the man who saved her from abuse; of course Ophelia would be desperate and indiscreet in seeking Hamlet's love.2004 January 15, Kelly Kleiman, “Her side of the story [review of Ophelia by Bryony Lavery, performed by the Camenae Ensemble Theatre Company]”, in Chicago Reader, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Reader...
- Synonyms:
- background story
- A fictitious account of a person's history designed to conceal their actual history and motives.
- Synonyms:
- cover story
backstory meaning in Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and Gujarati
backstory in Hindi
- बैकस्टोरी
backstory in Bengali
- previous experiences and life of a person
- পিছনের গল্প pichoner golpo
backstory in Punjabi
- previous experiences and life of a person
- ਪਿੱਠ-ਕਹਾਣੀ piṭṭha-kahāṇī
backstory in Gujarati
- બેકસ્ટોરી
More languagesFewer languages
- backstory in Nepali
- ब्याकस्टोरी
- backstory in Arabic
- خلفية درامية
- backstory in Malay
- latar tempat
- backstory in Persian
- پیشینه داستان
Synonyms of backstory
- background story
- cover story
Forms of backstory
| plural | backstories |
|---|---|
| alternative form | back-story |
| alternative form | back story |
Origin of backstory
From back- (prefix meaning ‘in, into, or towards the past’) + story.
Questions about backstory
- What does backstory mean?
- Backstory means the previous experiences and life of a person, specifically (narratology, especially in film, television) a character in a dramatic work.
- What is backstory in Hindi?
- Backstory in Hindi is बैकस्टोरी. See Backstory meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is backstory?
- Backstory is a noun.
- How do you pronounce backstory?
- Backstory is pronounced /ˈbækˌstɔːɹi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of backstory?
- The plural of backstory is backstories.
Words near backstory in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: backstory (page history and authors); backstory (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); backstory (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); backstory (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-backstory.wav.
Cite this entry: “backstory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backstory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.