Entry Word: background

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 the physical conditions or features that form the setting against which something is viewed <they got married on a mountain top with the sunset as background>

Synonyms backdrop, ground

Related Words scene, scenery, set, stage; environment, milieu, setting, surroundings

Near Antonyms foreground; center, focal point, focus, heart

2 the place and time in which the action for a portion of a dramatic work (as a movie) is set <the background of that movie is the World War II era> — see scene 1