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.
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
She features in a video depicting her walking into the DfE offices with the background music from film The Devil Wears Prada.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
Herrmann, Hitchcock’s musical alter ego, also wrote the underscore, or background music.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
The background music is one more irritation on top of squeaky shopping cart wheels, and people asking “Do you have shallots?” and “Where is the kosher salt?”
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
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.
