Background

Understate the importance or quality of

The part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground

Synonyms

Ground

Examples

He posed her against a background of rolling hills

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

Information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem

Type of

Information

Derivation

Backgrounder

Examples

The embassy filled him in on the background of the incident

Extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured

Examples

They got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals

A person's social heritage: previous experience or training

Examples

He is a lawyer with a sports background

Relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation

Examples

When the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background