1The part of a picture, scene, or design that forms a setting for the main figures or objects, or appears furthest from the viewer.

1. 1.1A less important or conspicuous position or function.
   ‘after that evening, she remained in the background’
   More example sentences

   • ‘There is a whole system at work here, chugging along quietly in the background, unnoticed, and when you stop to think about it, its just awesome!’
   • ‘Ideally, you should be quiet, in the background, unnoticed forever.’
   • ‘Surely, there had to be a highly developed public relations conspiracy orchestrated in the background.’
   • ‘When I arrived a few young women were tucking into some very well presented fare, as music played unobtrusively in the background.’
   • ‘When he was finish, the three friends sat in contemplative silence, the movie still playing unnoticed in the background.’
   • ‘There were other voices in the background: inconsequential static.’
   • ‘But Mitchell preferred to remain in the background, always giving credit to others.’
   • ‘There were always a couple of them, with a scribe lurking unobtrusively in the background and taking notes in an indecipherable shorthand.’
   • ‘They work in the background and their contribution invariably goes unnoticed.’
   • ‘With the theme tune in the background of your mind, it is just too much to handle!’
   • ‘However, they fail to provide any supplementary advice for the situation where the cook twiddles with a roast while the owner of the kitchen hangs around crossly in the background.’
   • ‘I think I heard something like a squeaky playground merry-go-round in the background, or maybe it was a squeaky gate door.’
   • ‘One or two big projects that I've had rumbling on in the background, not really my core job but those nice added extras that we'd all like to be able to play with, have finally come to fruition.’
   • ‘I listen to classical music played softly in the background.’
   • ‘Over here there's a poker game, then there's this drunk that keeps coming into the room, and in the background there's a couple checking into the hotel.’
   • ‘In the meantime you're hearing the music in the background.’
   • ‘Now, I can see myself in that niche: I've always liked being the lieutenant who keeps things running smoothly in the background.’
   • ‘‘It's not something that comes to the forefront, it's always in the background,’ he says.’
   • ‘‘My style is that I would much rather work the phones in the background than make a lot of statements,’ he said.’
   • ‘The piano pieces during the film's second half sound a little thin even though they serve more as background than anything else.’
   Synonyms

   behind the scenes, out of the public eye, out of the spotlight, out of the limelight, backstage

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2. 1.2Computing Used in reference to tasks or processes that do not need input from the user.
   ‘programs can be left running in the background’
   More example sentences

   • ‘A daemon is a program that runs quietly in the background and processes information on the computer automatically.’
   • ‘Playback was smooth, even with tasks running in the background.’
   • ‘You have to go into Windows Task Manager and terminate the background process for Outlook prior to starting a backup.’
   • ‘After that, the client software works in the background as a Windows service and watches your selected folders.’
   • ‘Each test was done immediately following a reboot with no other software running in the background.’
3. 1.3Physics Low-intensity radiation from radioisotopes present in the natural environment.
   ‘Another line of evidence that the universe began is the cosmic radiation background.’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Each photon in the cosmic background, though, retained some clues about the time and place of its last scattering.’
4. 1.4Unwanted signals, such as noise in the reception or recording of sound.
   ‘But there was a background noise in the signal that just didn't go away, and they couldn't figure out how to get rid of it.’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Using technology to the fullest, the show uses a sound system for background noise.’
   • ‘Although the performances are well done, the variation in recording quality and background noise is audible.’
   • ‘It's got to the point now where there are so many signs that they blur into a background hiss of white noise.’
   • ‘With the compression, you can hear the background noise in the recording and you hear when that noise stops at the end of the sample.’
   • ‘The sound quality is poor here… in many instances the background noise overwhelms any dialogue.’
   • ‘Because you listen to the tape as a lay person, there's no way that at the end of the tape the background noise could be a conversation.’
   • ‘You don't need much here, but it is a documentary, so I was wary of background noise or dirty sound.’
   • ‘Otherwise, this is a mostly front-heavy track that utilizes some ambient sounds or background noises.’
   • ‘Other little nuances like ambient sounds and background noises are also used productively and generously.’

2The circumstances or situation prevailing at a particular time or underlying a particular event.

1. 2.1A person's education, experience, and social circumstances.
   ‘she has a background in nursing’
   More example sentences

   • ‘her voice suggested a tenacious, working-class background’
   • ‘We're providing very little incentive for students from social and economically disadvantaged backgrounds to come into education.’
   • ‘We all have different sensitivities, social backgrounds, families and different experiences of discipline and violence in real life.’
   • ‘One of the main aims of this project is not just to widen the cohort of volunteers, but also to make sure that young people of different social backgrounds can come together in a common experience.’
   • ‘His motivation was that there should be no barriers to people with different education background and solid banking experience.’
   • ‘Common educational and social backgrounds have brought American and many foreign leaders closer.’
   • ‘Will they have extensive educational backgrounds and technical experience?’
   • ‘Yet he struggled with contempt for his social background and deficient education.’
   • ‘It's a small but diverse business community but with a wealth of different backgrounds, strengths, experience and viewpoints.’
   • ‘Two people from two different backgrounds will likely experience a significant number of challenges and communication barriers.’
   • ‘Furthermore, they come from three very different backgrounds and social settings, which lends depth and perspective to their accounts.’
   • ‘Yet the bitter 26-year feud that has divided them has its roots more in each man's very different personal and social backgrounds.’
   • ‘She will blame the couple's very different social backgrounds for the differences that eventually led to the collapse of their marriage.’
   • ‘They come from different backgrounds, both social and cultural, and are united only by their religious mission.’
   • ‘You can use your legal background and your position in the community to help inspire a moral rebirth in a society that condones bad things.’
   • ‘With her arts management background, she also serves as a mentor and adviser for the staff in their artistic careers.’
   • ‘All faculty members regardless of cultural background can serve as a role model.’
   • ‘Her art background had given her an appreciation of Japanese woodblock prints.’
   • ‘This allows the work to bridge cultural difference, engaging - not distancing - viewers of varying backgrounds.’
   • ‘Coming from a rural background, the city scenes ignited his imagination.’
   • ‘I am a personal chef/trainer in New York City with a background in sport nutrition and healthy cooking.’
   Synonyms

   social circumstances, family circumstances

   experience, record, history, past, training, education, grounding, knowledge

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1Form a background to.

2Provide with background.