in the background
idiom
: in a position that avoids attracting attention
He was a shy man who always tried to keep/stay in the background.
Examples of in the background in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In the video, Lipa and her dancers dance the day away by and in a giant pool with a city skyline in the background.
—
Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 11 Apr. 2024
Frame your shot to show the flowers in the background.
Don’t pick the flowers and don’t dig the plants.
—Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Apr. 2024
In one photo on Instagram, Eric humorously flaunted a snapshot of himself clad in hospital scrubs from the waist down, with a red biohazard waste bucket lurking in the background.
—Jordan Greene, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2024
Instead, this baby sound machine features eight soundtracks, like calming rain, instrumental, and a heartbeat, with subtle acoustic cues embedded in the background to help promote alpha and delta waves in sleep and language development.
—Maya Polton, Parents, 29 Mar. 2024
Because there were always people in the background pitting us against each other.
—Jordan Runtagh, Peoplemag, 29 Mar. 2024
As the state bill looms in the background, residents and officials have taken to a letter-writing campaign detailing their experiences with vacation rentals in Fort Lauderdale, hoping that SB 280 won’t become law.
—Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 28 Mar. 2024
The former Dirty Jobs host shared a photo of himself with the bridge in the background from an episode of his series, Somebody's Gotta Do It.
—Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 28 Mar. 2024
The Auschwitz guard towers looming in the background throughout the movie are the real towers from the real camp, which is now a memorial and museum.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 21 Mar. 2024
Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 11 Apr. 2024
Frame your shot to show the flowers in the background.
Don’t pick the flowers and don’t dig the plants.
—Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Apr. 2024
In one photo on Instagram, Eric humorously flaunted a snapshot of himself clad in hospital scrubs from the waist down, with a red biohazard waste bucket lurking in the background.
—Jordan Greene, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2024
Instead, this baby sound machine features eight soundtracks, like calming rain, instrumental, and a heartbeat, with subtle acoustic cues embedded in the background to help promote alpha and delta waves in sleep and language development.
—Maya Polton, Parents, 29 Mar. 2024
Because there were always people in the background pitting us against each other.
—Jordan Runtagh, Peoplemag, 29 Mar. 2024
As the state bill looms in the background, residents and officials have taken to a letter-writing campaign detailing their experiences with vacation rentals in Fort Lauderdale, hoping that SB 280 won’t become law.
—Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 28 Mar. 2024
The former Dirty Jobs host shared a photo of himself with the bridge in the background from an episode of his series, Somebody's Gotta Do It.
—Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 28 Mar. 2024
The Auschwitz guard towers looming in the background throughout the movie are the real towers from the real camp, which is now a memorial and museum.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 21 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'in the background.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near in the background
Cite this Entry
“In the background.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20the%20background. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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