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.
He used to make them stand against a background marked out with squared lines with colored ribbons attached at the exact point where head, elbow, knee, etc. were supposed to be.
From Time Magazine Archive
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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.