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back story

British  

noun

  1. the events which take place before, and which help to bring about, the events portrayed in a film

"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

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.

By turns comical and deeply affecting, “The Golden Boy” is heavy on back story, family history, Canadian history and geography, and on what Aristotle and friends would call exegesis.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

Whereas Batman had his tragic back story, making him moody and tortured, and Spider-Man had the youthful verve of a kid from Queens, Superman was always kind of a square.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026

On Thursday, Franco Molina threw in another piece of the Anglo-Argentine back story.

From BBC • Nov. 23, 2025

For those unfamiliar with Weinraub’s bus, there’s a back story.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025

Chiropractic Jerome Poupel, a Frenchman based in London, provides another voice in Raducanu's new-look team - as well as a quirky back story.

From BBC • Aug. 24, 2025

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.