Synonyms for background
ˈbækˌgraʊndback·ground

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.0 / 1 vote

1. backgroundnoun

   a person's social heritage: previous experience or training

   "he is a lawyer with a sports background"

   Synonyms:
   setting, background signal, scope, backcloth, screen background, desktop, background knowledge, backdrop, ground

   Antonyms:
   highlight, play up, foreground, spotlight

2. background, groundnoun

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

   "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"

   Synonyms:
   screen background, setting, ground, priming coat, primer, background signal, soil, undercoat, basis, solid ground, dry land, primer coat, footing, land, priming, backcloth, background knowledge, scope, reason, flat coat, backdrop, desktop, earth, terra firma

   Antonyms:
   play up, foreground, spotlight, highlight

3. background, background knowledgenoun

   information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem

   "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"

   Synonyms:
   setting, background signal, scope, backcloth, screen background, desktop, background knowledge, backdrop, ground

   Antonyms:
   foreground, spotlight, highlight, play up

4. background, background signalnoun

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

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

   Synonyms:
   setting, background signal, scope, backcloth, screen background, desktop, background knowledge, backdrop, ground

   Antonyms:
   foreground, spotlight, highlight, play up

5. backgroundnoun

   relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation

   "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"

   Synonyms:
   setting, background signal, scope, backcloth, screen background, desktop, background knowledge, backdrop, ground

   Antonyms:
   play up, spotlight, highlight, foreground

6. setting, background, scopenoun

   the state of the environment in which a situation exists

   "you can't do that in a university setting"

   Synonyms:
   place setting, screen background, scene, compass, ground, telescope, background signal, circumstance, reach, cathode-ray oscilloscope, ambit, setting, range, mise en scene, oscilloscope, backcloth, background knowledge, scope, mount, orbit, backdrop, desktop, context, stage setting

   Antonyms:
   play up, highlight, foreground, spotlight

7. background, desktop, screen backgroundnoun

   (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear

   Synonyms:
   setting, background signal, scope, backcloth, screen background, desktop, background knowledge, backdrop, ground

   Antonyms:
   foreground, play up, highlight, spotlight

8. backdrop, background, backclothverb

   scenery hung at back of stage

   Synonyms:
   setting, background signal, scope, backcloth, desktop, background knowledge, screen background, backdrop, ground

   Antonyms:
   play up, highlight, foreground, spotlight

9. background, play down, downplayverb

   understate the importance or quality of

   "he played down his royal ancestry"

   Synonyms:
   downplay, minimize, play down, understate, minimise

   Antonyms:
   highlight, foreground, play up, spotlight

Matched Categories

1. • Accompaniment
   • Computer Science
   • Environment
   • Heritage
   • Noise
   • Screen
   • View

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "background":

   context, backdrop, backgrounds, historic, substantive, fund, historical, history, basic, ambient, origin, reminder, merits, reference, basis, general, contextual, bottom, base, historique, recall, information, record, environment, origins, substance, core, light, framework

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How to use background in a sentence?

1. Fatu Kekula:

   It's a surprise -- a young child like me who came from a very poor background coming to the U.S., i'm thankful to CNN and I appreciate the people who made donations, and I'm thankful to Emory for accepting me to study.

2. Julie Centrella:

   Joe also learns about their background, and who and what they were before their dementia diagnosis.

3. Acting Sgt. Jaclyn Jiras:

   When the next class came, Jiras was informed that she would not be doing background investigations as she was ‘too good’ at her job.

4. Wisoncin DOJ -RRB- McCall:

   This ‘ journalism of omission ’ is being done consciously and does a disservice to the news consuming public, context in news stories is important and the background of the alleged perpetrator is part of that context.It provides a sense of causation for why an event happened.Thesenews topics are sensitive, of course, but it does society no good when news outlets want to sanitize content in order to massage public perception.

5. Uwe Becker:

   Richard Grenell has a strong and convincing background in foreign policy with Richard Grenell long term experience at the United Nations and in other positions, not having a serving American ambassador under the American flag besides the Brandenburg Gate is not a good symbol for the deep friendship that we have with the United States. Carsten Ovens, a Christian Democratic Union politician in the German city-state of Hamburg, told Fox News it is regrettable the appointed U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell can not start Carsten Ovens service.