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Background vs Overview - What's the difference?

background | overview |

As nouns the difference between background and overview

is that background is one's social heritage; what one did in the past/previously while overview is a brief summary, as of a book or a presentation.

As verbs the difference between background and overview

is that background is to put in a position that is not prominent while overview is to engage in an overview; to provide a brief summary.

background

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • One's social heritage; what one did in the past/previously.
  • A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
    • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close
  • Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.
  • A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground).
  • (computing) The image or color, over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).
  • (computing) Activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.

    • Derived terms

    * on background * background fodder

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To put in a position that is not prominent

    • overview

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia overview) (en noun)
  • A brief summary, as of a book or a presentation.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To engage in an overview; to provide a brief summary.
  • * 1976 , Elizabeth A. Freidheim, Sociological Theory in Research Practice [http://books.google.com/books?id=mtHEnnMKh3gC], ISBN 0870730150, page 313:
    • Gouldner, on the other hand, overviewed all of sociology as it exists in the Western world today, using Talcott Parsons as a "representative" example of its dominant mode of thought.