foreground
Americannoun
-
the ground or parts situated, or represented as situated, in the front; the portion of a scene or picture nearest to the viewer (opposed to background).
-
a prominent or important position; forefront.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the part of a scene situated towards the front or nearest to the viewer
-
the area of space in a perspective picture, depicted as nearest the viewer
-
a conspicuous or active position
verb
Etymology
Origin of foreground
Explanation
When you're watching a movie, you can describe what's happening up close to the camera as being in the foreground. The foreground is the opposite of the background, which is the part of a photograph, painting, or scene that's farthest away from you. Some photographers tend to focus sharply on the foreground while letting the rest of the picture go blurry. The noun foreground was first used specifically for talking about painting, and it came from fore, "before" or "in front," and ground, or "foundation."
Vocabulary lists containing foreground
Power Prefix: fore-
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "E" and "F"
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Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Rhetorical Analysis (Chapter 2)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In these events, the gravity of a foreground star and any accompanying planets magnifies the light of a more distant background star, briefly making it appear brighter.
From Science Daily • Jun. 1, 2026
He sings with an unusual drawl that connects to the diction of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, and his compact melodies and tightly structured chord progressions put his voice and lyrics in the foreground.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
And then I stumbled upon this car — the car that’s in the foreground of the painting.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
During one orbit, Anders captured Earth's brilliant blue hue standing out against the vast darkness of space and accentuated by the desolate, grey lunar horizon in the foreground.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
But in the photograph, though the tree was in the foreground, there was a building in the background, and a sign near it.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
