background
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
background/ˈbakɡraʊnd/
▶noun
- 1 part of a scene, picture, or description that forms a setting for the main figures, events, etc.
- 2 the circumstances prevailing at a particular time or underlying an event.
■ a person's education, experience, and social circumstances.
- 3 a persistent low level of radioactivity, radiation, noise, etc. present in an environment.
- 4 tasks or processes running on a computer that do not need input from the user.
- 1 form a background to.
- 2 put in the background.
- 3 provide with background information.
'background' also found in these Oxford entries:
agent
- antecedent
- AOR
- Appaloosa
- argyle
- backdrop
- backgrounder
- background music
- backstory
- beginning
- black-figure
- black flag
- blood
- cameo
- case history
- chalk-stripe
- daemon
- delft
- globule
- incidental music
- irradiation
- Jolly Roger
- microwave background
- middle distance
- murmur
- muzak
- old boy network
- origin
- piped music
- place
- positive vetting
- red-figure
- red top
- reserve
- rhubarb
- St Andrew's cross
- St George's cross
- scenery
- semi-documentary
- silhouette
- stablemate
- toile de Jouy
- vignette
- viper
- wallpaper
