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.
The color is murky, the composition undeveloped, the foreground possibilities unutilized; often some element in the middle or remote distance is rendered in devoted detail to the disparagement of everything else.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
As the supernova's light travels toward Earth, it passes by two galaxies in the foreground.
From Science Daily • Apr. 29, 2026
In the foreground of the painting was a car encampment with a tattered floral sheet woven through the windows, cloth tarps and couch cushions creating a shield against the elements.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
The iconic photograph taken by astronaut William Anders captured the bright blue Earth against the vast darkness of space, with the Moon's cratered surface in the foreground.
From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026
The first represented clouds low and livid, rolling over a swollen sea: all the distance was in eclipse; so, too, was the foreground; or rather, the nearest billows, for there was no land.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
