backdrop

[ bak-drop ]
See synonyms for backdrop on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Also called, especially British, back-cloth [bak-klawth, -kloth] /ˈbækˌklɔθ, -ˌklɒθ/ .Theater. the rear curtain of a stage setting.

  2. the background of an event; setting.

  1. Gymnastics. a maneuver in which a trampolinist jumps in the air, lands on the back with the arms and legs pointed upward, and then springs up to a standing position.

verb (used with object),back·dropped or back·dropt, back·drop·ping.
  1. to provide a setting or background for: A vast mountain range backdrops the broad expanse of lake.

Origin of backdrop

1
An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; back1 + drop

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use backdrop in a sentence

  • Here, a back-cloth with trees and something to do as a fountain basin.

    Three Plays | Luigi Pirandello
  • One of my ideas is to treat it as the back cloth of a stage, and paint a vista on it.

    If I May | A. A. Milne
  • I want the back-cloth to be a city, not to represent a city, mark you, but to be a city.

  • South Africa seems always painted on the back cloth of my Cambridge memories.

    The New Machiavelli | Herbert George Wells
  • The back cloth was raised and we had before us a tranquil sea with two little islands sleeping under a sunset sky.

    Diversions in Sicily | H. Festing Jones

British Dictionary definitions for backdrop

backdrop

/ (ˈbækˌdrɒp) /


noun
  1. another name for backcloth

  2. the background to any scene or situation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012