BACKGROUND

A person's social heritage: previous experience or training

Example: "He is a lawyer with a sports background"

The part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground

Example: "He posed her against a background of rolling hills"

Information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem

Example: "The embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"

Extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured

Example: "They got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals"

Relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation

Example: "When the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"

The state of the environment in which a situation exists

Example: "You can't do that in a university setting"

(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear

Scenery hung at back of stage