foreground meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

foreground

noun

UK /ˈfɔː(ɹ)ˌɡɹaʊnd/

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

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

Note the presence in the foreground of the fronds of ailanthus, often called “ghetto palm,” now ubiquitous in Baltimore but apparently already common in the 1930s.2006, Mark Chalkley, Hampden-Woodberry:

The subject of an image, often depicted at the bottom in a two-dimensional work.

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Often The application the user is currently interacting with; the application window that appears in front of all others.

Derived terms: foregroundable, foregrounder
Related terms: background, midground

foreground

verb

To place in the foreground (physically or metaphorically).

Right from the start, The Irishman foregrounds the looming inevitability of death.2019 October 31, A. A. Dowd, “Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro reunite for one last gripping crime epic, The Irishman”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2020:
Things that were implicit and largely unjudged in the book, filtered through layers of stiff-upper-lip irony — Fanny’s self-pity, Linda’s obliviousness — are now foregrounded and, for the most part, rendered banal, with “Beaches”-level platitudes and sentimentality.2021 July 29, Mike Hale, “Review: ‘The Pursuit of Love’ Against All Odds”, in The New York Times:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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Conjugation of “foreground”, all tenses