background

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈbæk(ɡ)ɹaʊnd/, (Indic) /ˈba(k)ɡɾɑwɳɖ/
Audio (General American): (file)

Etymology 1

From back +‎ ground. Compare backstory.

Alternative forms

back ground (obsolete)

Adjective

background (not comparable)

Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.
background noise

The antivirus program runs on a background thread.

Antonyms

conspicuous, foreground, forestanding, primary, prominent

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.
- 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 2016-03-06, pages 206–207:
  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.
(film) An extra who appears in the background, with no speaking role.
Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.
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.
(computing) The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).
(computing) A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.
The antivirus program is running in the background.
(physics) Ellipsis of background radiation.
low-background

Derived terms

Translations

social heritage

Belarusian: пахо́джанне n (paxódžannje)
Catalan: bagatge m
Danish: baggrund c
Dutch: achtergrond (nl)
Finnish: tausta (fi)
French: origine (fr) f, passé (fr) m
German: Hintergrund (de) m
Greek: καταγωγή (el) f (katagogí)
Hebrew: רֶקַע (he) m (réka)
Hungarian: háttér (hu)
Irish: cúlra m
Italian: formazione (it) f, istruzione (it) m, legato (it) m, retaggio (it) m, bagaglio culturale m, esperienza (it) f, contesto (it) m
Malay: latar belakang (ms)
Marathi: पार्श्वभूमी f (pārśvabhūmī)
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), о́пыт (ru) m (ópyt) (experience)
Serbo-Croatian: poreklo (sh) n ((Ekavian)), porijeklo (sh) n ((Ijekavian))
Spanish: formación (es) f, origen (es) m, procedencia (es) f, proveniencia f
Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
Tagalog: sanligan
Ukrainian: похо́дження n (poxódžennja)
Vietnamese: cơ sở (vi), nền (vi)

part of picture

Armenian: ֆոն (hy) (fon)
Azerbaijani: zəmin
Belarusian: фон m (fon), за́дні план m (zádni plan)
Bulgarian: фон m (fon), за́ден план m (záden plan)
Catalan: fons (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 背景 (zh) (bèijǐng)
Czech: pozadí (cs)
Danish: baggrund c
Dutch: achtergrond (nl)
Esperanto: fono
Finnish: tausta (fi)
French: arrière-plan (fr) m
German: Hintergrund (de) m
Greek: βάθος (el) n (váthos)
Hebrew: רֶקַע (he) m (réka)
Hindi: पृष्ठभूमि (hi) f (pŕṣṭhbhūmi)
Hungarian: háttér (hu)
Ingrian: foona
Italian: sfondo (it) m
Japanese: 背景 (ja) (はいけい, haikei)
Kannada: ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ (kn) (hinnele)
Kazakh: артқы көрініс (artqy körınıs)
Korean: 배경(背景) (ko) (baegyeong)
Latvian: fons (lv) m
Macedonian: позадина f (pozadina)
Maori: tuarongo
Marathi: पार्श्वभूमी f (pārśvabhūmī)
Polish: tło (pl) n, dalszy plan m, drugi plan m
Portuguese: fundo (pt) m, plano de fundo
Romanian: fundal (ro) n
Russian: фо́н (ru) (fón), за́дний план m (zádnij plan), (colloquial) бэ́кграунд (ru) m (bɛ́kgraund), бэкгра́унд (ru) m (bɛkgráund)
Serbo-Croatian: pozadina (sh) f
Spanish: fondo (es) m, trasfondo (es) m, lontananza (es) f, lejanía (es) f
Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c, fond (sv) c
Tagalog: sanligan
Turkish: arka plan (tr)
Ukrainian: фон m (fon), за́дній план m (zádnij plan), тло (uk) n (tlo)
Vietnamese: nền (vi)
Walloon: erî-plan (wa) m

relevant information

Armenian: նախագիտելիք (hy) (naxagitelikʻ)
Azerbaijani: zəmin
Catalan: antecedents m pl
Chinese:
Mandarin: 背景 (zh) (bèijǐng)
Czech: pozadí (cs)
Danish: baggrund
Finnish: taustatieto, historia (fi)
French: antécédents (fr) m pl, historique (fr) m
German: Hintergrund (de) m
Greek: υπόβαθρο (el) n (ypóvathro)
Hebrew: רֶקַע (he) m (réka)
Hindi: पृष्ठभूमि (hi) f (pŕṣṭhbhūmi)
Italian: storia (it) f, antefatto (it) m, antecedente (it) m
Japanese: 背景 (ja) (はいけい, haikei), バックグラウンド (ja) (bakkuguraundo)
Korean: 배경(背景) (ko) (baegyeong), 예비지식(豫備知識) (ko) (yebijisik), 백그라운드 (baekgeuraundeu)
Malay: latar belakang (ms)
Polish: kontekst (pl) m, pochodzenie (pl) n
Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m, histórico (pt) m
Romanian: context (ro) n
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:
Roman: kontekst (sh) m, pretpovijest (sh) f
Slovak: pozadie n
Spanish: antecedente (es) m
Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
Tagalog: sanligan
Ukrainian: тло (uk) n (tlo)
Vietnamese: bối cảnh (vi)

less important feature

Catalan: rerefons m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 背景 (zh) (bèijǐng)
Danish: baggrund c
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(背景) (ko) (baegyeong)
Polish: drugi plan m, dalszy plan m
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)

computing: computer background

Arabic: خلفية f (ḵalfiyya)
Armenian: խորք (hy) (xorkʻ)
Esperanto: fono
Finnish: taustaväri (fi), tausta (fi), taustakuva (fi)
French: fond d'écran (fr) m
German: Schreibtischhintergrund m, Hintergrundbild n
Hungarian: háttér (hu)
Icelandic: bakgrunnur m
Italian: sfondo (it) m
Japanese: バックグラウンド (ja) (bakkuguraundo)
Korean: 바탕색 (ko) (batangsaek), 백그라운드 (baekgeuraundeu)
Malay: latar belakang (ms)
Marathi: बॅकग्राउंड m (bĕkagrāuṇḍa)
Persian: پس‌زمینه (pas-zamine)
Polish: tapeta (pl) f
Portuguese: plano de fundo m, fundo (pt) m
Russian: фон (ru) m (fon), бэкгра́унд (ru) m (bɛkgráund)
Scottish Gaelic: cùlaibh m
Spanish: fondo (es) m, fondo de pantalla m
Swedish: bakgrundsbild (sv) c, skrivbordsbakgrund (sv) c
Turkish: arka plan (tr)
Vietnamese: hình nền

computing: activity not visible to the user

Bulgarian: за́ден план m (záden plan)
Dutch: achtergrond (nl)
Esperanto: fona tasko
Finnish: tausta (fi)
French: tâche de fond (fr) f, en arrière-plan (fr)
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 (ja) (bakkuguraundo)
Korean: 백그라운드 (baekgeuraundeu)
Malay: latar belakang (ms)
Persian: پس‌زمینه (pas-zamine)
Polish: tło (pl) n
Portuguese: segundo plano m
Romanian: fundal (ro) n
Russian: фо́новый режи́м m (fónovyj režím)
Spanish: en segundo plano m
Swedish: bakgrund (sv) c
Turkish: arka plan (tr), arka (tr)
Vietnamese: nền (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. 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)

(transitive) To place in the background.
- 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:
  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.
(transitive, figurative) To put in a position that is not prominent.
Synonym: downplay
- 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.
(journalism) 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.

Etymology 2

Verb

background

simple past and past participle of backgrind

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English background.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /beɡˈɡrawnd/
Rhymes: -awnd

Noun

background m (invariable)

cultural background (of a person)
- 1995, Domenico Starnone et al., La scuola:
  Vivaldi: Insomma, noi dobbiamo partire dal background di questo ragazzo.
  Mortillaro: Background, ah, come lo odio l'inglese.
  In short, we have to start from the background of this boy.
  Background, ah, how I hate English.

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English background.

Noun

background n (plural backgrounduri)

background
Synonyms: fundal, fond

Declension

Declension of **background**
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
	singular		plural
nominative-accusative	background	backgroundul	backgrounduri	backgroundurile
genitive-dative	background	backgroundului	backgrounduri	backgroundurilor
vocative	backgroundule		backgroundurilor

Spanish

Noun

background m (plural backgrounds)

background