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Foreground or Background - What's the difference?

foreground | background |

Background is a related term of foreground.



In computing terms the difference between foreground and background

is that foreground is the application the user is currently interacting with; the application window that appears in front of all others while background is activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.

As nouns the difference between foreground and background

is that foreground is the elements of an image which lie closest to the picture plane while background is one's social heritage; what one did in the past/previously.

As verbs the difference between foreground and background

is that foreground is to place in the foreground (physically or metaphorically while background is to put in a position that is not prominent.

foreground

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The elements of an image which lie closest to the picture plane.
  • The subject of an image, often depicted at the bottom in a two-dimensional work.
  • (computing) the application the user is currently interacting with; the application window that appears in front of all others.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To place in the foreground (physically or metaphorically)
  • 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