Talk:backgrounded

This doesn't sound like a real word. Are you sure that it is a real word? Thanks, Razorflame 14:26, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes it exists. Yotcmdr 14:35, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

According to the English Wiktionary, it doesn't have a verb tense. Could you please verify that this entry does indeed have a verb tense? Thanks, Razorflame 14:40, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

According to this it means to provide with background. I will look it up in the 18 volume Oxford dictionnary to make sure :). Yotcmdr 14:46, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, then, just wanted to make sure :). Cheers, Razorflame 14:51, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

(from the OED)

1. To form a background to.

1768 S. BENTLEY River Dove 8 Far distant as Vision can go, High Weever back-grounds the gay scene. 1843 MRS. BROWNING Lett. R. H. Horne I. 70 Where there is no reserve of character to background it [shyness]. 1891 C. T. C. JAMES Rom. Rigmarole 75 The ‘antique spires’ of the College Chapel, backgrounded with crimson sunset. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 17 Nov. 4/2 Planted on to the material like a raised embroidery, and backgrounded with manipulations of tulle or chiffon. 1905 Ibid. 4 May 4/2 Hair..well dressed can background these [features] with such effect that the face..may become almost beauty.

2. To place in the background, to make inconspicuous. Chiefly fig. Opp. FOREGROUND v.

1891 ‘S. MOSTYN’ Curatica xii. 164, I am not sure if there was any bread and butter; if there was, it was..ignominiously back-grounded, so that I did not see it. 1976 Word 1971 XXVII. 125 The thesis of this article is that the perceptual salience of certain aspects of events naturally foregrounds certain actions and entities and backgrounds others in a semantically predictable manner, dictating the structure of early sentences. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Sept. 1045/4 Another tradition of anthropology follows Durkheim in backgrounding the intellectual propositions and foregrounding the moral persuasions of religion.

3. To inform (someone) of the circumstances pertaining to an event, situation, or the like, esp. its causes, history, etc.; to ‘fill in’ (FILL v. 15e).

1961 Time 10 Feb. 13/3 Salinger ‘backgrounded’ reporters on the news. 1971 Rhodesia Herald 23 June, He has served at The Hague and is completely backgrounded on the territory and the World Court battle. 1977 Washington Post 13 Mar. A1 A high-ranking State Department official well backgrounded in African affairs. 1985 New Yorker 11 Mar. 121/2 Israel's Embassy in Washington ‘backgrounded’ American reporters. Yotcmdr 15:02, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Good enough for me. Cheers, Razorflame 15:03, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Adjective

Is the adjective attested?--Brett 17:17, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

What do you mean by attested? Do you mean, is it verifiable? If that is the case, then most likely. I will check. Cheers, Razorflame 17:18, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Here is a reference to the word as an adjective: Here. It is from the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Cheers, Razorflame 17:22, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I confirm it exists (it's in the 18 volume OED).17:23, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I just checked the OED online and although the verb background is there, there is no entry for backgrounded. I think this is simply a past participle that functions as a modifier sometimes; I don't think it's an adjective.--Brett 17:34, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Removed. Cheers, Razorflame 17:35, 10 February 2009 (UTC)