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. Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann:

   There are witnesses that suggest there may be an Islamic background to this but that is far from clear at this point.

2. Andy Parker:

   This person, to me, he doesn't even register, what registers is he was mentally disturbed and he was allowed to pass a background check.

3. Tony Estanguet:

   We will commit to having a safe event, we will check that every person who has access to athletes will go through a thorough background check to make sure they have no record or that they're not a liability.

4. Jason Wong:

   Microsoft continues to spend significant research and development on AI and innovations that require AI behind it, such as computer vision technologies, but [these technologies] are not as apparent to its users, this is the phenomenon of ‘everyday AI’ where AI is just in the background and customers take it for granted.

5. Blaise Misztal:

   During Sisi's visit last month, while there was a lot of concern that there was no public mention of his human-rights record, Trump had secured the release of an American being held in an Egyptian prison, just because Trump hasn't said these things publicly, doesn't mean they're not being said in the background.