context
/ˈkɒn.tɛkst/US/ˈkɑn.tɛkst/
context noun: the surroundings, circumstances, environment, background or settings that determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event or other occurrence.
Noun
context (countable and uncountable, plural contexts)
- The surroundings, circumstances, environment, background or settings that determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event or other occurrence.
- —In what context did your attack on him happen? —We had a pretty tense relationship at the time, and when he insulted me I snapped.
- The display and result must be placed in the context that was it was against a side that looked every bit their Fifa world ranking of 141 - but England completed the job with efficiency to record their biggest away win in 19 years.2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport
- The text in which a word or passage appears and which helps ascertain its meaning.
- Without context, I can't tell if dish refers to a plate, or to the food served thereon.
- The surroundings and environment in which an artifact is found and which may provide important clues about the artifact's function and/or cultural meaning.
- The trama or flesh of a mushroom.
- For a formula: a finite set of variables, which set contains all the free variables in the given formula.
- The data (register contents, program counter value, etc.) needed to switch to another thread of execution.
Verb
context (third-person singular simple present contexts, present participle contexting, simple past and past participle contexted)
- To knit or bind together; to unite closely.
- The whole worlds frame, which is contexted onely by commerce and contracts.1638, Richard Younge, The Drunkard's Character: Or, a True Drunkard with Such Sinnes as Raigne in Him
- If the Subiect bee Historie, or contexted Fable, then I hold it better put in Prose, or Blanks: for ordinarie discourse neuer shewes so well in Meeter1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political
Adjective
context (comparative more context, superlative most context)
- Knit or woven together; close; firm.
- 1541?, Robert Copland (translator?), Guydon's Questionary Chirurgical, translation of 1533, Guy de Chauliac, La questionaire des cirugiens at barbiers
The skynne is composed & context and woven with thredes and vaynes. - And though he could describe how such a string may be context, yet our Explication will have this advantage in point of probability above his, ...1662, Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air, and its Effects, page 73
- 1541?, Robert Copland (translator?), Guydon's Questionary Chirurgical, translation of 1533, Guy de Chauliac, La questionaire des cirugiens at barbiers
context meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
context in Hindi
- circumstances or settings
- संदर्भ sandarbh, परिदृश्य paridŕśya, परिप्रेक्ष्य pariprekṣya
- text in which a word appears
- संदर्भ sandarbh
context in Tamil
- context
- சந்தர்ப்பம் cantarppam
- context or situation
- இடம் iṭam
context in Marathi
- context
- परिस्थिती paristhitī
context in Urdu
- text in which a word appears
- سِیاق و سَباق siyāq o sabāq, قَرِینَہ qarīna, سِیاق siyāq
More languagesFewer languages
- context in Bengali
- সূত্র, অনুষঙ্গ, অনুবন্ধ, কথাপ্রসঙ্গ
- context in Telugu
- సందర్భం sandarbhaṁ
- context in Malayalam
- സന്ദർഭം, പ്രകരണം, സാഹചര്യം, പശ്ചാത്തലം
- context in Kannada
- ಸಂದರ್ಭ sandarbha
- context in Odia
- ମୂଳ muḷa
- context in Nepali
- संदर्भ sandarbha
- context in Tagalog
- kalamnan
- context in Arabic
- سِيَاق siyāq, قَرِينَة qarīna
- context in Malay
- konteks
- context in Indonesian
- konteks
- context in Thai
- บริบท bɔɔ-rí-bòt
- context in Vietnamese
- bối cảnh, văn cảnh, ngữ cảnh, mạch văn
Examples of context in a sentence
- Their song titles are pretentious in the context of their basic lyrics.
- The statistics are not very meaningful when taken out of context.
- In formal contexts, we can use 'that' and 'those' as substitutes meaning ‘the one(s)’.
Synonyms of context
Antonyms
Forms of context
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | contexts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | contexts |
| present participle | contexting |
| past participle | contexted |
| past | contexted |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more context |
| superlative | most context |
Origin of context
From Latin context(us).
Words formed from context
- context-based learning
- context clue
- context collapse
- context compaction
- context-dependent
- context-free
- context-free grammar
- context-free language
- contextful
- contextless
- context menu
- contextomy
- context principle
- context-sensitive
- context-sensitive grammar
- high-context culture
- high context culture
- KWIC
- KWOC
- licensing context
- low-context culture
- low context culture
- macrocontext
- metacontext
- microcontext
- out of context
- out-of-context
- put into context
- supercontext
- take out of context
Phrases with context
Questions about context
- What does context mean?
- Context means the surroundings, circumstances, environment, background or settings that determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event or other occurrence.
- What is context in Hindi?
- Context in Hindi is संदर्भ (sandarbh), परिदृश्य (paridŕśya), परिप्रेक्ष्य (pariprekṣya). See Context meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is context?
- Context can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce context?
- Context is pronounced /ˈkɒn.tɛkst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of context?
- The plural of context is contexts.
Words near context in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: context (page history and authors); இடம் (Tamil) (page history and authors); परिस्थिती (Marathi) (page history and authors); context (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); context (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಸಂದರ್ಭ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ମୂଳ (Odia) (page history and authors); संदर्भ (Nepali) (page history and authors). 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-context.wav.
Cite this entry: “context.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/context. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.