foreground

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ ground. Compare Dutch voorgrond (“foreground”), German Vordergrund (“foreground”), Danish forgrund (“foreground”), Swedish förgrund (“foreground”), Norwegian forgrunn (“foreground”), Icelandic forgrunni (“foreground”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː(ɹ)ˌɡɹaʊnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

foreground (plural foregrounds)

1. The elements of an image which lie closest to the picture plane.
2. The subject of an image, often depicted at the bottom in a two-dimensional work.
3. (computing) the application the user is currently interacting with; the application window that appears in front of all others.

Related terms

• background
• midground

Translations

The elements of an image which lie closest to the picture plane

• Bulgarian: преден план m (preden plan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前景 (zh) (qiánjǐng)

• Czech: popředí n
• Dutch: voorgrond (nl) m
• Finnish: etuala
• French: premier plan (fr) m, avant-plan (fr) m
• German: Vordergrund (de) m
• Greek: Προσκήνιο n (Proskínio)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: előtér (hu)
• Italian: primo piano m
• Japanese: 前景 (ja) (ぜんけい, zenkei)
• Portuguese: primeiro plano m
• Russian: пере́дний пла́н m (perédnij plán)
• Spanish: primer plano m
• Swedish: förgrund (sv) c
• Walloon: divant-plan (wa) m

Verb

foreground (third-person singular simple present foregrounds, present participle foregrounding, simple past and past participle foregrounded)

1. To place in the foreground (physically or metaphorically)