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backdrop

UK/ˈbæk.dɹɒp/US/ˈbæk.dɹɑp/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,719 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: backdrops

A backdrop is the scene or setting behind the main action. Against a backdrop of hills.

The theatrical sense is a painted cloth and the figurative sense is the circumstances. A backdrop explains a story without being part of it.

Michael Coghlan from Adelaide, Australia · CC BY-SA 2.0

Definitions of backdrop

  1. 1nounbackdropThe scene or setting behind the main action.C1

    “The whole election was fought against a backdrop of rising prices.”

backdrop is a setting.

Where it comes from

From back + drop.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

backdrop in the wild

  • Unlike earlier examples of Chinese landscape art, the grandeur of nature is the main theme, rather than merely providing a backdrop.

    Fan Kuan

  • The peak forms part of a dramatic backdrop to the city of Cape Town and is part of the Table Mountain National Park.

    Lion's Head (Cape Town)

  • A setting (or backdrop) is the time and geographic location within a narrative, either non-fiction or fiction.

    Setting (narrative)

  • The setting initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story.

    Setting (narrative)

  • One of the best times to visit this park is in the fall when the colour of the maple leaves makes an attractive backdrop for photographers.

    Rosewall Creek Provincial Park

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.