ADJ
- broad, narrow
- It is important to have a broad educational background
- mixed
- privileged, wealthy
- deprived, disadvantaged, poor
- middle class, upper class, working class
- academic, class, cultural, educational, ethnic, family, military, professional, religious, social, socio-economic
VERB + BACKGROUND
- come from, have
- He came from a very privileged background
- be drawn from
- The students are drawn from very mixed social backgrounds
BACKGROUND + VERB
- be in sth
- Her background was in biology and medicine
PREP
- from a ~
- children from deprived backgrounds
- with a ~
- an economist with a background in business
- ~ in
PHRASES
- a range/variety of backgrounds
ADJ
- general
- factual
- cultural, economic, historical, political, technical
VERB + BACKGROUND
- describe, give (sb), outline, provide (sb with)
- The book provides the background to the revolution
- form
- Those discussions formed the background to the decision
BACKGROUND + NOUN
- information, knowledge, reading
- background information on the country
PREP
- against the ~
- Against that general background I shall give you a more detailed view of current medical practice
- ~ to
- the technical background to the report
PREP
- against a/the ~
- The areas of water stood out against the dark background
- in the ~
- The mountains in the background were capped with snow
- on a/the ~
- bright blue on a red background
VERB + BACKGROUND
- blend into, fade into, melt/merge into, recede/retreat into, slip into
- The dispute over the new contract allowed her other problems to fade into the background. He had learnt how to melt invisibly into the background
- keep/remain/stay in
- He prefers to remain in the background and let his assistant deal with the press
- hover in
- I could see my secretary hovering in the background
PREP
- in the ~
- There was a radio on in the background