background

About 46.63 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. adjective Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.

   background noise

2. noun One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past.

   The lawyer had a background in computer science.

3. noun A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.
4. noun An extra who appears in the background, with no speaking role.
5. noun Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.
6. noun A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground).

   There was tons of noise in the background.

7. noun The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).
8. noun A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.

   The antivirus program is running in the background.

Similar words

play down scope setting backdrop backcloth desktop ground background knowledge background signal screen background

Often followed by

of and to for in information is on the

Word family

background music backgrounded backgrounding backgrounds