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Situation vs Background - What's the difference?

situation | background |

As nouns the difference between situation and background

is that situation is the way in which something is positioned vis-à-vis its surroundings while background is one's social heritage; what one did in the past/previously.

As a verb background is

to put in a position that is not prominent.

situation

English

Alternative forms

* scituation

Noun

(en noun)
  • The way in which something is positioned vis-à-vis its surroundings.
  • * 1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows) :
  • ...he being naturally an underground animal by birth and breeding, the situation of Badger's house exactly suited him and made him feel at home; while the Rat, who slept every night in a bedroom the windows of which opened on a breezy river, naturally felt the atmosphere still and oppressive.
  • The place in which something is situated; a location.
  • * 1833 , Thomas Hibbert and Robert Buist, The American Flower Garden Directory , page 142:
  • [Hibíscus] speciòsus is the most splendid, and deserves a situation in every garden.
  • Position or status with regard to conditions and circumstances.
  • The combination of circumstances at a given moment; a state of affairs.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}
  • (UK, dated) A position of employment; a post.
  • * 1913 , , (Sons and Lovers) , Penguin 2006, page 78:
  • When he was nineteen, he suddenly left the 'Co-op' office, and got a situation in Nottingham.
  • * 1946 , Vaughn Horton, Denver Darling, Milt Gabler, :
  • You take a morning paper from the top of the stack
    And read the situations from the front to the back
    The only job that's open need a man with a knack
    So put it right back in the rack Jack.
  • A difficult or unpleasant set of circumstances; a problem.
  • Boss, we've got a situation here...

    Synonyms

    * (combination of circumstances) condition, set up

    See also

    * situation comedy, sitcom

    References

    * Source for the definitions: ** Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/situation] (accessed: March 10, 2007). * * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    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