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foreground

 - 5 dictionary results

fore⋅ground

  [fawr-ground, fohr-]
Use foreground in a Sentence
–noun
1. the ground or parts situated, or represented as situated, in the front; the portion of a scene nearest to the viewer (opposed to background ).
2. a prominent or important position; forefront.
Origin:
1685–95; fore- + ground 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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fore·front   (fôr'frŭnt', fōr'-)   
n.  

  1. The foremost part or area.

  2. The position of most importance, prominence, or responsibility; the vanguard: in the forefront of the liberation movement. Also called foreground.

fore·ground   (fôr'ground', fōr'-)   
n.  

  1. The part of a scene or picture that is nearest to and in front of the viewer.

  2. See forefront.

tr.v.  To place in the foreground; call attention to: "He is currently at work on a trilogy of pieces . . . which foreground the Algerian War" (Eleanor Heartney).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

foreground 
1695, from fore + ground. First used in Eng. by Dryden, originally in painting (cf. Du. voorgrond).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

foreground
(Unix) On a time-sharing system, a task executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output to the user in contrast to one running in the background. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix, but it appears first to have been used in this sense on OS/360. Normally, there is only one foreground task per terminal (or terminal window). Having multiple processes simultaneously reading the keyboard is confusing.
[The Jargon File]
(1994-10-24)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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