fore·ground

(fôr′ground′)

1. The part of a scene or picture that is nearest to and in front of the viewer.

tr.v. fore·ground·ed, fore·ground·ing, fore·grounds

To place in the foreground; call attention to: "He is currently at work on a trilogy of pieces ... which foreground the Algerian War" (Eleanor Heartney).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

foreground

(ˈfɔːˌɡraʊnd)

1. the part of a scene situated towards the front or nearest to the viewer

2. (Art Terms) the area of space in a perspective picture, depicted as nearest the viewer

3. a conspicuous or active position

(tr) to emphasize (an issue, idea, or word)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fore•ground

(ˈfɔrˌgraʊnd, ˈfoʊr-)

n.

1. the ground or parts situated in the front; the portion of a scene nearest to the viewer (opposed to background).

2. a prominent position; forefront.

[1685–95]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	foreground - the part of a scene that is near the viewer panorama, vista, view, aspect, scene, prospect - the visual percept of a region; "the most desirable feature of the park are the beautiful views"
	2.	foreground - (computer science) a window for an active application CRT screen, screen - the display that is electronically created on the surface of the large end of a cathode-ray tube window - (computer science) a rectangular part of a computer screen that contains a display different from the rest of the screen computer science, computing - the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures
Verb	1.	foreground - move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent; "The introduction highlighted the speaker's distinguished career in linguistics" highlight, play up, spotlight set off, bring out - direct attention to, as if by means of contrast; "This dress accentuates your nice figure!"; "I set off these words by brackets" background, play down, downplay - understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"

foreground

noun

1. front, focus, forefront the foreground of this boldly painted landscape

2. prominence, limelight, fore, forefront This worry has come to the foreground in recent years.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

أَمَاميّةمُقَدِّمَة الصورَه، في طَليعَة

popředí

forgrund

etuala

istaknutno mjesto

elõtér

forgrunnur

primo piano in primo piano

前景

전경

priešakinis planas

priekšplāns

förgrund

ทัศนียภาพที่อยู่ใกล้ที่สุด

ön planön plân/alan

cận cảnh

前景

foreground

[ˈfɔːgraʊnd]

A. N → primer plano m, primer término m
in the foreground (fig) → en primer plano or término

B. VT [+ object in photo, picture] → traer al primer plano (fig) [+ issue, problem] → destacar, subrayar

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

foreground

[ˈfɔː^rgraʊnd] n → premier plan m
in the foreground → au premier plan
to come to the foreground (= become prominent) → passer au premier plan
to put sth in the foreground (= make a priority) → mettre qch en avant foreground processingforeground processing n → traitement m prioritaire

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

foreground

n (Art, Phot, Comput) → Vordergrund m; in the foreground → im Vordergrund

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

foreground

[ˈfɔːˌgraʊnd]

1. n (Art) → primo piano
in the foreground (fig) → in una posizione di primo piano

2. adj (Comput) → foreground inv, di primo piano

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

foreground

(ˈfoːgraund) noun

the part of a view or picture nearest to the person looking at it. a landscape, with two horses in the foreground.

foreground

→ أَمَاميّة popředí forgrund Vordergrund προσκήνιο primer plano etuala premier plan istaknutno mjesto in primo piano 前景 전경 voorgrond forgrunn pierwszy plan primeiro plano авансцена förgrund ทัศนียภาพที่อยู่ใกล้ที่สุด ön plan cận cảnh 前景

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Perhaps, in Jerry's brain, the rising into the foreground of consciousness of an image of a log awash connoted more intimate and fuller comprehension of the thing being thought about, than did the word "crocodile," and its accompanying image, in the foreground of a human's consciousness.

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The first represented clouds low and livid, rolling over a swollen sea: all the distance was in eclipse; so, too, was the foreground; or rather, the nearest billows, for there was no land.

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Thus, the foreground is all raging commotion; but behind, in admirable artistic contrast, is the glassy level of a sea becalmed, the drooping unstarched sails of the powerless ship, and the inert mass of a dead whale, a conquered fortress, with the flag of capture lazily hanging from the whale-pole inserted into his spout-hole.

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I call to mind a winter landscape in Amsterdam - a flat foreground of waste land, with here and there stacks of timber, like the huts of a camp of some very miserable tribe; the long stretch of the Handelskade; cold, stone-faced quays, with the snow-sprinkled ground and the hard, frozen water of the canal, in which were set ships one behind another with their frosty mooring-ropes hanging slack and their decks idle and deserted, because, as the master stevedore (a gentle, pale person, with a few golden hairs on his chin and a reddened nose) informed me, their cargoes were frozen-in up-country on barges and schuyts.

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He, however, who is obtrusive with his eyes as a discerner, how can he ever see more of anything than its foreground!

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Everything was ready now; students stood crowded together in the foreground, and others stood behind them on chairs and tables.

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The child had no more to do than several others, but she was somehow in the foreground. It transpired afterwards at various village entertainments that Rebecca couldn't be kept in the background; it positively refused to hold her.

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For the benefit of readers voracious for everything about everybody, schedule chapters might be provided by inferior novelists, good at painting say tiresome bourgeois fathers, gouty uncles and brothers in the army, as sometimes in great pictures we read that the sheep in the foreground have been painted by Mr.

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Vast forests of palms, arecs, bamboo, teakwood, of the gigantic mimosa, and tree-like ferns covered the foreground, while behind, the graceful outlines of the mountains were traced against the sky; and along the coasts swarmed by thousands the precious swallows whose nests furnish a luxurious dish to the tables of the Celestial Empire.

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One's gaze went with infinite relief from the scorched greys and sullen reds of the foreground to the blue-green softness of the eastward hills.

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'A few more touches in the foreground will finish it, I should think.

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He saw in the foreground Pilate's irritated face and the serene face of Christ, and in the background the figures of Pilate's retinue and the face of John watching what was happening.

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