(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
a person's social heritage: previous experience or training; "he is a lawyer with a sports background"
information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"
the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground; "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"
relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"
extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals"
understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"
a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name); "Joe's mother would not use his nickname and always called him Joseph"; "Henry's nickname was Slim"
a descriptive name for a place or thing; "the nickname for the U.S. Constitution is `Old Ironsides'"
a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work; "it was the usual `boy gets girl' theme"
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition; "the theme is announced in the first measures"; "the accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it"
provide with a particular theme or motive; "the restaurant often themes its menus"
(sometimes followed by `to') meeting the requirements especially of a task; "she had adequate training"; "her training was adequate"; "she was adequate to the job"
about average; acceptable; "more than adequate as a secretary"
enough to meet a purpose; "an adequate income"; "the food was adequate"; "a decent wage"; "enough food"; "food enough"
(usually followed by `to') having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authority to do something; "able to swim"; "she was able to program her computer"; "we were at last able to buy a car"; "able to get a grant for the project"
having inherent physical or mental ability or capacity; "able to learn"; "human beings are able to walk on two feet"; "Superman is able to leap tall buildings"
have the skills and qualifications to do things well; "able teachers"; "a capable administrator"; "children as young as 14 can be extremely capable and dependable"
having a strong healthy body; "an able seaman"; "every able-bodied young man served in the army"
incapable of failure or error; "an infallible antidote"; "an infallible memory"; "the Catholic Church considers the Pope infallible"; "no doctor is infallible"