Definitions of background

1. information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; " the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"

2. 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"

3. Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.

4. The space which is behind and subordinate to a portrait or group of figures.

5. Anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a background of red hangings.

6. A place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight.

7. The distant portion of the landscape; the portion of a picture farthest away from the spectator, or lying between or above the chief figures; the whole of a surface upon which patterns or designs are executed; that which is dimly seen because it is far away; a place obscure or out of sight; that which is back of something and against which it can be looked at or viewed.

8. Ground at the back: a place of obscurity: the space behind the principal figures of a picture.

9. Ground in the rear; part of a picture which seems to extend behind the figures.

10. The part of a picture which is represented as behind the principal objects; a subordinate position; obscurlty.

11. Ground in the rear or behind; parts dimly seen; in a picture, the part behind and subordinate to the principal figures.