<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>the ground or parts, as of a scene, situated in the rear (foreground).</li><li>Fine Arts: the part of a painted or carved surface against which represented objects and forms are perceived or depicted: a portrait against a purple background.</li><li>the part of an image represented as being at maximum distance from the frontal plane: majestic mountains in the background.</li><li>one's origin, education, experience, etc., in relation to one's present character, status, etc.: She came from a humble background.</li><li>the social, historical, and other antecedents or causes of an event or condition: Knowing the background of the war illuminates the latest news reports about it.</li><li>Synonyms: medium, sphere, element, milieu, upbringing, environment</li><li>the complex of physical, cultural, and psychological factors that serves as the environment of an event or experience; the set of conditions against which an occurrence is perceived: Their decisions need to be examined against the background of nineteenth-century marriage laws.</li><li>Physics: the totality of effects that tend to obscure a phenomenon under investigation and above which the phenomenon must be detected.</li><li>Telecommunications: (in an electronic device for transmitting or receiving signals) the sum of the effects, as noise or random signals, from which a phenomenon must differentiate itself in character or degree in order to be detected.</li><li>Computers: the mode of operation of programs, tasks, or processes that start and run without user input while other programs are being used (often used attributively): Background processes—your firewall and your antivirus software—could be what’s slowing your computer down.</li><li>on a graphical interface, the position of an active app or window that is visually obscured by the app or window in use: The first time she used a smartphone, she didn’t realize she could continue talking while the phone was in the background.</li></ul><p><strong>Adjective</strong></p><ul><li>of, relating to, or serving as a background: background noise.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) to supply a background to: The passenger's idle thoughts were backgrounded by the drone of the plane's engines.</li><li>to supply a background of information for: To background themselves, reporters dug through all available files on the case.</li><li>to give scant attention to; put in the background: Her sacrifices and lifetime of public service were largely backgrounded and unheralded.</li></ul>