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• n  a person's social heritage: previous experience or training
  he is a lawyer with a sports background
• n  the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground
  he posed her against a background of rolling hills
• n  information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem
  the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident
• n  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
• n  relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation
  when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background
• n  the state of the environment in which a situation exists
• n  (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
• n  scenery hung at back of stage
• v  understate the importance or quality of

• I watched in horror as my instant background check appeared before the gathered group of onlookers at iDate 2007, an Internet dating conference held in Miami this week.
• background A Kosovo Primer How we got here, and what's at stake Ask PTI Daily We answer questions about the conflict Who's Who Key players Highlights of the Peace .
• He has yet to see his background profile.

• ground
• background knowledge
• background signal
• setting
• scope
• desktop
• screen background
• backdrop
• backcloth
• play down
• downplay

• foreground
• play_up

News & Articles

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• Background check contractor that vetted Snowden subject of a probe
  The federal contractor that performed a 2011 background check on Edward Snowden, the self-identified leaker of two confidential government surveillance programs, is the subject of a probe, the inspector general of the Office of Personnel Management told lawmakers Thursday.“Yes, we believe that there – there may be some problems,” Patrick McFarland, the OPM’s inspector general, said of Snowden’s ...
  June 21, 2013 - NBC NEWS
• Former background investigator pleads guilty
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A former investigator who worked for the firm that conducted a background check on ex-National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden has pleaded guilty to charges of falsifying work on background investigations of other federal workers.
  June 21, 2013 - Associated Press via Yahoo! News
• Background Checks Faked With Lax Oversight, Watchdog Says
  Investigators charged with conducting background checks of U.S. national-security workers have falsified records and aren’t receiving adequate oversight, according to an inspector general’s testimony.
  June 20, 2013 - Bloomberg

Quotes

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• Jeff Sessions in Los Angeles Times
  Sessions said he would not support a nominee "who believes it is acceptable for a judge to allow their personal background, gender, prejudices to sway their decision in favor of, or against, parties before the court."
• Jacob Zuma in AFP
  No one is allowed to take the law into his own hands,said Zuma. "It against this background that the murder of Terre'Blanche must be condemned, irrespective of how his killers think they may have been justified. They had no right to take...
• John McCain in Canoe.ca
  Senator Obama in particular likes to talk up his background as a lecturer on law and also as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done,said McCain. "He went right along with the partisan crowd and was among the 22 senators...