Background vs. Wallpaper

Background vs. Wallpaper — Is There a Difference?
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Difference Between Background and Wallpaper

Backgroundadjective

Less important in a scene.

background noise.

Wallpapernoun

(uncountable) Decorative paper-like material used to cover the inner walls of buildings.

Backgroundnoun

One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past.

The lawyer had a background in computer science.

Wallpapernoun

(countable) A roll of such paper.

Backgroundnoun

A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.

Wallpapernoun

(countable) A style or design of such material.

He is letting her select the wallpapers for the whole house.
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Backgroundnoun

Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.

Wallpapernoun

Anything that serves as a background or part of the surroundings.

Backgroundnoun

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.

Wallpapernoun

An image or tiled pattern used as the background of a computer desktop.

Backgroundnoun

(computing) The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).

Wallpapernoun

Generic footage of a building or location that may be used in the background of a related news report.

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Backgroundnoun

(computing) A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.

The antivirus program is running in the background.

Wallpapernoun

Gaudy mass-produced stamps, typically of little or no value and only produced for sale to collectors.

Backgroundverb

To put in a position that is not prominent.

Wallpapernoun

A radio operator's collection of awards and QSL cards.

Backgroundverb

(journalism) To gather and provide background information (on).

Wallpaperverb

(transitive) To cover (a wall, a room, etc) with wallpaper.

Backgroundnoun

a person's social heritage: previous experience or training;

he is a lawyer with a sports background

Wallpapernoun

a decorative paper for the walls of rooms

Backgroundnoun

the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground;

he posed her against a background of rolling hills

Wallpaperverb

cover with wallpaper

Backgroundnoun

information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem;

the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident

Backgroundnoun

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

Backgroundnoun

relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation;

when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background

Backgroundnoun

the state of the environment in which a situation exists;

you can't do that in a university setting

Backgroundnoun

(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear

Backgroundnoun

scenery hung at back of stage

Backgroundverb

understate the importance or quality of;

he played down his royal ancestry