background

English

Etymology

back +‎ ground

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæk.ɡɹaʊnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

background (not comparable)

1. Less important in a scene.

   background noise.

Antonyms

• prominent, conspicuous, forestanding

Noun

background (countable and uncountable, plural backgrounds)

1. One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past.

   The lawyer had a background in computer science.

2. A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.
   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:

     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 crypsis in the visible world — camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.

3. Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.
4. 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.

5. (computing) The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).
6. (computing) A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.

   The antivirus program is running in the background.

Derived terms

• background process
• on background
• background fodder
• background check
• background investigation

Translations

social heritage

• Catalan: bagatge m
• Dutch: achtergrond (nl)
• Finnish: tausta (fi)
• French: origine (fr) f, passé (fr) m
• German: Hintergrund (de) m
• Greek: καταγωγή (el) f (katagogí)
• Hebrew: רקע‎‎ (he) m (reqa)
• Hungarian: háttér (hu)
• Irish: cúlra m

• Italian: formazione (it) f, istruzione (it) m, legato (it) m, retaggio (it) m, bagaglio culturale m
• Polish: doświadczenie (pl)
• Portuguese: instrução (pt) f, formação (pt) f, experiência (pt) f
• Russian: (origin) происхожде́ние (ru) n (proisxoždénije), (education) образова́ние (ru) n (obrazovánije), (training) подгото́вка (ru) f (podgotóvka), бэкгра́унд (ru) m (bɛkgráund)
• Spanish: formación (es) f
• Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
• Tagalog: sanligan
• Vietnamese: cơ sở (vi), nền (vi)

part of picture

• Bulgarian: фон (fon), заден план (zaden plan)
• Catalan: fons (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背景 (zh) (bèijǐng)

• Czech: pozadí (cs)
• Dutch: achtergrond (nl)
• Finnish: tausta (fi)
• French: arrière-plan (fr) m
• German: Hintergrund (de) m
• Greek: βάθος (el) n (váthos)
• Hebrew: רקע‎‎ (he) m (reqa)
• Hungarian: háttér (hu)
• Italian: sfondo (it) m

• Japanese: 背景 (ja) (はいけい, haikei)
• Korean: 배경 (ko) (baegyeong)
• Latvian: fons m
• Macedonian: позадина f (pozadina)
• Maori: tuarongo
• Polish: tło (pl) n
• Portuguese: fundo (pt) m, plano de fundo
• Russian: фо́н (ru) (fón), за́дний план m (zádnij plan), (colloquial) бэ́кграунд (ru) m (bɛ́kgraund), бэкгра́унд (ru) m (bɛkgráund)
• Spanish: fondo (es) m
• Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
• Tagalog: sanligan
• Vietnamese: nền (vi)
• Walloon: erî-plan (wa) m

relevant information

• Armenian: նախագիտելիք (hy) (naxagitelikʿ)
• Catalan: antecedents m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背景 (zh) (bèijǐng)

• Czech: pozadí (cs)
• Finnish: taustatieto, historia (fi)
• French: antécédents (fr) m pl, historique (fr) m
• German: Hintergrund (de) m
• Greek: υπόβαθρο (el) n (ypóvathro)
• Hebrew: רקע‎‎ (he) m (reqa)
• Italian: storia (it) f, antefatto m

• Japanese: 背景 (ja) (はいけい, haikei)
• Korean: 예비지식 (ko) (yebijisik)
• Polish: kontekst (pl) m
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m, histórico (pt) m
• Russian: конте́кст (ru) (kontékst), предпосы́лка (ru) f (predposýlka), подоплёка (ru) f (podopljóka), предысто́рия (ru) f (predystórija), бэкгра́унд (ru) m (bɛkgráund)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùl-fhiosrachadh m
• Serbo-Croatian: kontekst (sh), pretpovijest (sh)
• Spanish: antecedente (es) m
• Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
• Tagalog: sanligan
• Vietnamese: bối cảnh

less important feature

• Catalan: rerefons m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背景 (zh) (bèijǐng)

• Finnish: tausta (fi)
• French: fond (fr) m
• German: Hintergrund (de) m
• Greek: βάθος (el) n (váthos)
• Hungarian: háttér (hu)
• Italian: secondo piano m, sottofondo m

• Japanese: 背景 (ja) (はいけい, haikei)
• Korean: 배경 (ko) (baegyeong)
• Polish: drugi plan, dalszy plan
• Portuguese: segundo plano m
• Russian: фо́н (ru) (fón), за́дний план m (zádnij plan), бэкгра́унд (ru) m (bɛkgráund)
• Spanish: segundo plano m
• Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
• Vietnamese: nền (vi)

computer background

• Armenian: խորք (hy) (xorkʿ)
• Finnish: taustaväri (fi), tausta (fi), taustakuva (fi)
• French: fond d'écran (fr) m
• German: Schreibtischhintergrund m
• Hungarian: háttér (hu)
• Italian: sfondo (it) m
• Japanese: バックグラウンド (bakkuguraundo)
• Korean: 바탕색 (ko) (batangsaek)

• Persian: پس‌زمینه‎‎ (pas-zamine)
• Polish: tapeta (pl) f
• Portuguese: plano de fundo m
• Russian: фон (ru) m (fon), бэкгра́унд (ru) m (bɛkgráund)
• Spanish: fondo (es) m
• Swedish: bakgrundsbild (sv) c, skrivbordsbakgrund (sv) c
• Vietnamese: hình nền

activity not visible to the user

• Bulgarian: заден план (zaden plan)
• Dutch: achtergrond (nl)
• Finnish: tausta (fi)
• French: tâche de fond (fr) f, en arrière-plan
• Georgian: ფონური რეჟიმი (ponuri režimi)
• German: Hintergrund (de)
• Hungarian: háttér (hu)
• Italian: sottofondo m, in sordina
• Japanese: バックグラウンド (bakkuguraundo)

• Korean: 백그라운드 (baekgeuraundeu)
• Persian: پس‌زمینه‎‎ (pas-zamine)
• Polish: tło (pl) n
• Portuguese: segundo plano m
• Russian: фо́новый режи́м m (fónovyj režím)
• Spanish: segundo plano m
• Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
• Vietnamese: nền (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} agtergrond

Verb

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

1. To put in a position that is not prominent.
   • 2006, Paul Baker, Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis (page 163)

     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.

---

Spanish

Noun

background m (plural backgrounds)

1. background