background music
Americannoun
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music, often recorded, intended to provide a soothing background, usually played over loudspeaker systems in public places, as railway stations or restaurants.
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music composed specifically to accompany and heighten the mood of a visual production, as a movie.
Etymology
Origin of background music
First recorded in 1925–30
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.
The arts can seem little more than background music to the main events in American history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
They each also posted one of the photos on their Instagram Story with Perry Como’s “And I Love You So” as background music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
The tariffs have largely been background music as investors weigh the artificial-intelligence build-out and inflation.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
Our expert content team has a way of sprinkling soothing magic on all of our Sleep Stories through the narrator's cadence to the background music to get people to lull to sleep.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2024
I can almost hear the documentary’s mournful violin background music start up.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
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.
