Background vs. Milieu — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Background and Milieu
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Definitions
Background
The part of a picture, scene, or design that forms a setting for the main figures or objects, or appears furthest from the viewer
The word is written in white on a red background
The house stands against a background of sheltering trees
Milieu
An environment or a setting.
Background
The circumstances or situation prevailing at a particular time or underlying a particular event
The political and economic background
Background information
Milieu
An environment or setting; a medium.
Background
Form a background to
Windswept land backgrounded by the Rockies
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Milieu
(specifically) A social environment or setting.
Background
Provide with background
The embassy backgrounded American reporters
Milieu
A group of people with a common point of view; a social class or group.
Background
The ground or scenery located behind something.
Milieu
Environment.
The intellectual and moral milieu created by multitudes of self-centered, cultivated personalities.
It is one of the great outstanding facts of his progressive relation to the elements of his social milieu.
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Background
The part of a pictorial representation that appears to be in the distance and that provides relief for the principal objects in the foreground.
Milieu
The environmental condition
Background
The general scene or surface against which designs, patterns, or figures are represented or viewed.
Background
A position, area, or situation that is not immediately in one's attention or notice
You can hear traffic moving in the background during the interview.
Background
(Computers) The environment in which programs operate that the user does not engage with directly
Processes that run in the background.
Background
The circumstances and events surrounding or leading up to an event or occurrence.
Background
A person's experience, training, and education
Her background in the arts is impressive.
Background
The cultural or social environment in which a person was brought up or has lived
A class with students from many different backgrounds.
Background
Subdued music played especially as an accompaniment to dialogue in a dramatic performance.
Background
Sound that intrudes on or interferes with an audio recording.
Background
Low-level radiation, as from radioactive decay, that exists as part of the natural environment.
Background
Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.
Background noise
The antivirus program runs on a background thread.
Background
One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past.
The lawyer had a background in computer science.
Background
A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.
Background
Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.
Background
A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground).
There was tons of noise in the background.
The photographer let us pick a background for the portrait.
Background
(computing) The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).
Background
(computing) A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.
The antivirus program is running in the background.
Background
(physics) background radiation
Background
To put in a position that is not prominent.
Background
(journalism) To gather and provide background information (on).
Background
Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.
Background
The space which is behind and subordinate to a portrait or group of figures.
Background
Anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a background of red hangings.
Background
A place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight.
I fancy there was a background of grinding and waiting before Miss Torry could produce this highly finished . . . performance.
A husband somewhere in the background.
Background
The set of conditions within which an action takes place, including the social and physical conditions as well as the psychological states of the participants; as, within the background of the massive budget deficits of the 1980's, new spending programs had little chance of passage by the congress.
Background
The set of conditions that precede and affect an action, such as the social and historical precedents for the event, as well as the general background{5}; as, against the background of their expulsion by the Serbs, the desire of Kosovars for vengeance is understandable though regrettable.
Background
The signals that may be detected by a measurement which are not due to the phenomenon being studied, and tend to make the measurement uncertain to a greater or lesser degree.
Background
An agreement between a journalist and an interviewee that the name of the interviewee will not be quoted in any publication, although the substance of the remarks may be reported; - often used in the phrase "on background". Compare deep background.
Background
A person's social heritage: previous experience or training;
He is a lawyer with a sports background
Background
The part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground;
He posed her against a background of rolling hills
Background
Information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem;
The embassy filled him in on the background of the incident
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
Background
Relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation;
When the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background
Background
The state of the environment in which a situation exists;
You can't do that in a university setting
Background
(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
Background
Scenery hung at back of stage
Background
Understate the importance or quality of;
He played down his royal ancestry
