foreground

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ ground. Compare Dutch voorgrond (“foreground”), German Vordergrund (“foreground”), Danish forgrund (“foreground”), Swedish förgrund (“foreground”), Norwegian forgrunn (“foreground”), Icelandic forgrunni (“foreground”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː(ɹ)ˌɡɹaʊnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

foreground (plural foregrounds)

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

Related terms

• background
• midground

Translations

the elements of an image which lie closest to the picture plane

• Bulgarian: пре́ден план m (préden plan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前景 (zh) (qiánjǐng)

• Czech: popředí (cs) n
• Dutch: voorgrond (nl) m
• Finnish: etuala, edusta (fi)
• French: premier plan (fr) m, avant-plan (fr) m
• German: Vordergrund (de) m
• Greek: προσκήνιο (el) n (proskínio)
• Hungarian: előtér (hu)
• Italian: primo piano m
• Japanese: 前景 (ja) (ぜんけい, zenkei)
• Korean: 전경(前景) (ko) (jeon'gyeong)
• Portuguese: primeiro plano m
• Romanian: prim plan (ro) n
• Russian: пере́дний пла́н m (perédnij plán)
• Spanish: primer plano m
• Swedish: förgrund (sv) c
• Ukrainian: пере́дній пла́н m (perédnij plán)
• Walloon: divant-plan (wa) m

Verb

foreground (third-person singular simple present foregrounds, present participle foregrounding, simple past and past participle foregrounded)

1. To place in the foreground (physically or metaphorically).

   Synonym: highlight

   • 2019 October 31, A. A. Dowd, “Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro reunite for one last gripping crime epic, The Irishman”, in AV Club‎^[1]:

     Right from the start, The Irishman foregrounds the looming inevitability of death.

Translations

to place in the foreground (physically or metaphorically)

• Hungarian: előtérbe helyez/állít, kiemel (hu)