foreground

[fawr-ground, fohr-] /ˈfɔrˌgraʊnd, ˈfoʊr-/
noun
1.
the ground or parts situated, or represented as situated, in the front; the portion of a scene nearest to the viewer (opposed to background).
2.
a prominent or important position; forefront.
Origin
1685-95; fore- + ground1
Examples from the web for foreground
  • In the blue distance life goes on as usual, though the foreground swells with scenes of excruciating woe and mild acceptance.
  • My interest at the moment is in the foreground material.
  • Four cranes block out the skyline, but the foreground is row upon row of boarded-up houses and shuttered storefronts.
  • The foreground galaxy, seen with a core of bright white, is about ten times smaller.
  • In some cases the foreground and the background are different locations.
  • Also the brush in the foreground adds to the composition of this western capture.
  • Plants see-through quality makes it suited for foreground as well as back of border.
  • The same channel-fill feature is exposed again on the cliff in the foreground.
  • foreground the art of science and the aesthetics of the museum.
  • What he is trying to do is to alert the reader to dangers other than those in the immediate foreground.
British Dictionary definitions for foreground

foreground

/ˈfɔːˌɡraʊnd/
noun
1.
the part of a scene situated towards the front or nearest to the viewer
2.
the area of space in a perspective picture, depicted as nearest the viewer
3.
a conspicuous or active position
verb
4.
(transitive) to emphasize (an issue, idea, or word)
Word Origin and History for foreground
n.

1690s, in the landscape sense, from fore- + ground (n.). First used in English by Dryden ("Art of Painting"); cf. Dutch voorgrond.

foreground in Technology


(Unix) On a time-sharing system, a task executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output to the user in contrast to one running in the background. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix, but it appears first to have been used in this sense on OS/360. Normally, there is only one foreground task per terminal (or terminal window). Having multiple processes simultaneously reading the keyboard is confusing.
[Jargon File]
(1994-10-24)