context

English

Etymology

From Latin contextus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntɛkst/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːntɛkst/

Noun

context (countable and uncountable, plural contexts)

1. 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.

   • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     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.

3. (linguistics) The text in which a word or passage appears and which helps ascertain its meaning.
4. (archaeology) 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.
5. (mycology) The trama or flesh of a mushroom.
6. (logic) For a formula: a finite set of variables, which set contains all the free variables in the given formula.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:context.

Antonyms

• isolation

Hyponyms

• subcontext

Derived terms

• context-free
• context-sensitive
• KWIC
• KWOC
• out of context
• take out of context

 

Translations

circumstances or settings

• Afrikaans: konteks (af)
• Armenian: համատեքստ (hy) (hamatekʻst)
• Bulgarian: обстано́вка (bg) f (obstanóvka), ситуа́ция (bg) f (situácija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 場合／场合 (zh) (chǎnghé), 场合 (zh) (chǎnghé), 情況／情况 (zh) (qíngkuàng), 情况 (zh) (qíngkuàng), 背景 (zh) (bèijǐng), 環境／环境 (zh) (huánjìng), 环境 (zh) (huánjìng)

• Dutch: context (nl) m
• Finnish: asiayhteys (fi), yhteys (fi)
• French: contexte (fr) m
• Galician: contexto (gl) m
• German: Kontext (de) m, Zusammenhang (de) m
• Greek: συμφραζόμενα (el) n pl (symfrazómena), πλαίσιο (el) n (plaísio)
• Hebrew: הקשר (he) m (heqsher)
• Hungarian: összefüggés (hu), kontextus (hu)
• Irish: comhthéacs m
• Italian: contesto (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 前後関係 (zengokankei), 状況 (ja) (jōkyō)
• Korean: 맥락 (ko) (maengnak) (脈絡 (ko)), 짜임새 (ko) (jjaimsae), 바탕 (ko) (batang)
• Maori: horopaki
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sammenheng (no) m, kontekst (no) m

  Nynorsk: samanheng m, kontekst m

• Polish: kontekst (pl) m
• Portuguese: contexto (pt) m
• Romanian: context (ro) n
• Russian: обстано́вка (ru) f (obstanóvka), ситуа́ция (ru) f (situácija)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-theacsa m
• Spanish: contexto m, marco (es) m
• Swedish: sammanhang (sv) n, kontext (sv) c
• Tagalog: kalamnan
• Telugu: సందర్భం (te) (sandarbhaṁ)

text in which a word appears

• Afrikaans: konteks (af)
• Arabic: سِيَاق m (siyāq)
• Armenian: համատեքստ (hy) (hamatekʻst)
• Bulgarian: конте́кст (bg) m (kontékst)
• Catalan: context (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 上下文 (zh) (shàngxiàwén), 語境／语境 (zh) (yǔjìng), 语境 (zh) (yǔjìng), 前後文／前后文 (zh) (qiánhòuwén), 前后文 (zh) (qiánhòuwén)

• Czech: kontext (cs)
• Dutch: context (nl) m
• Esperanto: kunteksto
• Estonian: kontekst
• Finnish: konteksti (fi), asiayhteys (fi), yhteys (fi)
• French: contexte (fr) m
• Galician: contexto (gl) m
• German: Kontext (de) m
• Greek: πλαίσιο (el) n (plaísio)
• Hungarian: szövegkörnyezet (hu), kontextus (hu), szövegösszefüggés (hu)
• Irish: comhthéacs m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: contesto (it) m
• Japanese: 文脈 (ja) (bunmyaku), 前後関係 (zengokankei)
• Korean: 문맥 (ko) (munmaek) (文脈 (ko)), 맥락 (ko) (maengnak) (脈絡 (ko))
• Kurdish:
• Manx: co-lhaih, cohecks
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sammenheng (no) m, kontekst (no) m

  Nynorsk: samanheng m, kontekst m

• Persian: زمینه (fa)
• Polish: kontekst (pl) m
• Portuguese: contexto (pt) m
• Romanian: context (ro) n
• Russian: конте́кст (ru) m (kontékst)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-theacsa m
• Spanish: contexto m
• Swedish: kontext (sv) c
• Tagalog: kalamnan
• Uzbek: kontekst (uz)

Verb

context (third-person singular simple present contexts, present participle contexting, simple past and past participle contexted)

1. (obsolete) To knit or bind together; to unite closely.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Feltham to this entry?)

   • (Can we date this quote by R. Junius and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The whole world's frame, which is contexted only by commerce and contracts.

Adjective

context (comparative more context, superlative most context)

1. (obsolete) 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.

   • 1662, Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air, and its Effects, page 73:

     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, ...

   • 1711-12, William Derham, Physico-theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation (3rd edition, corrected, 1714, page 110)

     the coats, without, are context and callous, firm and strong.

References

• “context”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “context”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

---

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin contextus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kunˈtekst]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [konˈtekst]

Noun

context m (plural contexts or contextos)

1. context

Related terms

• contextual

Further reading

• “context” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.