context

noun con·text \ ˈkän-ˌtekst \

Updated on: 24 Apr 2018

Definition of context

1 : the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning

2 : the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs : environment, setting

the historical context of the war

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contextless

play \ˈkän-ˌtekst-ləs\ adjective

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contextual

play \kän-ˈteks-chə-wəl, kən-, -chəl, -chü-əl\ adjective

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contextually

adverb

See context defined for English-language learners

See context defined for kids

Examples of context in a Sentence

… it was Dickens who first used the word 'detective' in a literary context … —John Mullan, How Novels Work, 2006
Entrepreneurship and civil freedoms depend on a context of civil order, predictability, and individual security. —Susan L. Woodward, Balkan Tragedy, 1995
… the old building, its original acre, inside its high outer wall, was immune to change, out of context and out of time. —Harriet Doerr, The Tiger in the Grass, 1995
We need to look at the event within the larger context of world history.
The book puts these events in their proper historical and social contexts.
We need to consider these events in context.

Recent Examples of context from the Web

Some spirited sniping between two Harvard Law School giants might be funny in some context, were the fate of Western democracy not potentially tottering in the balance.

— mark arsenault, BostonGlobe.com, "A Harvard face-off in the court of public opinion over Trump, Mueller," 20 Apr. 2018
Her thought seems to be to remain and grown in the context of the NBA game.

— jim lefko, San Antonio Express-News, "Writers’ roundtable: Express-News sportswriters look ahead and back at Spurs," 20 Apr. 2018
Jirasek has an uncommon resumé for a chef, with a lot of his experience occurring in the context of the local art scene.

— mike sula, Chicago Reader, "Old Habits is bar food reborn," 20 Apr. 2018
The anti-dumping mechanism comes in the context of a growing tit-for-tat trade spat/war between the two countries.

— andrew nusca, Fortune, "Facebook Privacy, China Sorghum, Trump and TPP: CEO Daily for April 18, 2018," 18 Apr. 2018
The story considered the problem in the context of the gentrification of Red Hook, with the factory standing for the old neighborhood and the beekeepers for the new.

— junot díaz, The New Yorker, "The Maraschino Mogul’s Secret Life," 17 Apr. 2018
To put it in some historical context, Arizona's 8th is a place where Ronald Reagan won easily in 1984 compared to Walter Mondale winning in Pennsylvania's 18th.

— harry enten, CNN, "Democrats' victory parade looks like it will hit a wall in Arizona," 5 Apr. 2018
This picture, which was taken for an LG ad, may not seem monumental to the uninitiated, but allow me to give you some context: Since BTS debuted in 2013, at least one member has had blonde or some variation of rainbow hair at all times.

— devon abelman, Allure, "Every BTS Member Has Black Hair Now, and K-Pop Fans Are Freaking Out," 3 Apr. 2018
Tesla provided some context about the crash in a Tuesday blog post after the NTSB made its announcement.

— timothy b. lee, Ars Technica, "Tesla stock falls 12% on crash investigation, debt downgrade," 28 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'context.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

context, in Context

In its earliest uses (documented in the 15th century), context meant "the weaving together of words in language." This sense, now obsolete, developed logically from the word's source in Latin, contexere "to weave or join together." Context now most commonly refers to the environment or setting in which something (whether words or events) exists. When we say that something is contextualized, we mean that it is placed in an appropriate setting, one in which it may be properly considered.

Origin and Etymology of context

Middle English, weaving together of words, from Latin contextus connection of words, coherence, from contexere to weave together, from com- + texere to weave — more at technical

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1568

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

context Synonyms

Synonyms

ambient, atmosphere, climate, clime, environment, environs, medium, milieu, setting, surround, surroundings, terrain;

Related Words

location, place, position, space;

backdrop, background;

element;

situation, status;

geography, habitat;

Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody

CONTEXT Defined for English Language Learners

context

noun

Definition of context for English Language Learners

: the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning
: the situation in which something happens : the group of conditions that exist where and when something happens