background
/'bækgraund/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- The part of a scene or picture that is farthest from the viewer: The area behind the main objects or people.
- A person's past experiences, education, and social history: The circumstances or events that form the setting for someone's development.
- The circumstances or situation prevailing at a particular time or underlying an event: The general context or environment.
- Subdued or inconspicuous position: A place or condition of little prominence or attention.
- Extraneous or competing information or signals: Unwanted data or noise that interferes with the observation of a primary phenomenon.
Verb:
- To provide with background information or context: To give the necessary historical or situational details.
- To deliberately make something seem less important or prominent: To downplay or minimize.
Usage Examples
Noun:
- The mountains in the background of the photo are beautiful. (The part of the photo behind the main subject.)
- She has a strong academic background in science. (Her past education and training.)
- We need to understand the political background to this conflict. (The historical context of the situation.)
- He prefers to stay in the background and let others take credit. (A position of low visibility.)
- The radio had too much static and background noise. (Unwanted, interfering sound.)
Verb:
- The reporter backgrounded herself on the issue before the interview. (She acquired contextual knowledge.)
- The company tried to background the negative news by highlighting a new product. (They attempted to downplay it.)
Advanced Usage
"Background check": An investigation into a person's history, typically for employment.
- The job requires a thorough background check.
"Background information": Details that help explain or contextualize a main topic.
- The report includes background information on the company's founding.
"Background music": Music played at a low volume, not intended to be the main focus.
- The restaurant played soft background music.
"In the background": Operating or existing without direct attention.
- The software runs in the background while you work on other tasks.
Variants and Related Words
- Backgrounder (n): A briefing or document providing background information.
- The press secretary distributed a backgrounder on the new policy.
Synonyms
- Context: The circumstances that form the setting for an event.
- History: A record of past events, especially in a person's life.
- Environment: The surroundings or conditions in which something operates.
- Downplay (verb synonym): To make something appear less important.
Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases
To fade into the background: To become unnoticed or inconspicuous.
- After the scandal, the politician faded into the background.
To keep/stay/remain in the background: To avoid being the center of attention.
- She prefers to stay in the background during public events.
Related Idioms
- A background figure: Someone who has influence but avoids public recognition.
- He was the background figure who really ran the organization.
Noun
- scenery hung at back of stage
- (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
- the state of the environment in which a situation exists
- you can't do that in a university setting
- relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation
- when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background
- extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured
- they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals
- information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem
- the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident
- the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground
- he posed her against a background of rolling hills
- a person's social heritage: previous experience or training
- he is a lawyer with a sports background
Verb
- understate the importance or quality of
- he played down his royal ancestry