retroterra

Italian

FWOTD – 13 November 2023

Etymology

From retro- +‎ terra (“ground”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re.troˈtɛr.ra/
• Rhymes: -ɛrra
• Hyphenation: re‧tro‧tèr‧ra

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

retroterra m (invariable)

1. (geography) hinterland
2. background (social or historical context)

   Synonyms: background, formazione

   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 25, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     «Non si fanno progressi sulla via della pace», mi aveva avvertito Rahm nel 2009, «se il presidente americano e il primo ministro israeliano hanno retroterra politici diversi.»

     "You don't get progress on peace," Rahm had warned me in 2009, "when the American president and the Israeli prime minister come from different political backgrounds."

     (literally, “"You cannot make progress on the way to peace," Rahm had warned me in 2009, "if the American president and the Israeli prime minister have different political backgrounds.”)