BACKGROUNDS Synonyms

• a social unit living together

• primary social group; parents and children

• a collection of things sharing a common attribute

• people descended from a common ancestor

• a person having kinship with another or others

• (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera

• a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities

• an association of people who share common beliefs or activities

• practices that are handed down from the past by tradition

• any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors

• that which is inherited; a title or property or estate that passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner

• hereditary succession to a title or an office or property

• the aggregate of past events

• a record or narrative description of past events

• the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings

• the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past to the present and even into the future

• all that is remembered of the past as preserved in writing; a body of knowledge

• the condition of belonging to a particular place or group by virtue of social or ethnic or cultural lineage

• properties acquired during a person's formative years

• helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community

• the place where something begins, where it springs into being

• properties attributable to your ancestry

• an event that is a beginning; a first part or stage of subsequent events

• the point of intersection of coordinate axes; where the values of the coordinates are all zero

• the source of something's existence or from which it derives or is derived

• the hereditary derivation of an individual

• scenery hung at back of stage

• scenery hung at back of stage

• the top of a desk

• (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear

• represent as less significant or important

• understate the importance or quality of

• the solid part of the earth's surface

• a rational motive for a belief or action

• the loose soft material that makes up a large part of the land surface

• a relation that provides the foundation for something

• a position to be won or defended in battle (or as if in battle)

• the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground

• material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)

• a relatively homogeneous percept extending back of the figure on which attention is focused

• a connection between an electrical device and a large conducting body, such as the earth (which is taken to be at zero voltage)

• (art) the surface (as a wall or canvas) prepared to take the paint for a painting

• the first or preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface

• fix firmly and stably

• confine or restrict to the ground

• place or put on the ground

• instruct someone in the fundamentals of a subject

• bring to the ground

• hit or reach the ground

• throw to the ground in order to stop play and avoid being tackled behind the line of scrimmage

• (baseball) a hit that travels along the playing field.

• cover with a primer; apply a primer to

• connect to a ground

• use as a basis for; found on

• an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control:

• the state of the environment in which a situation exists

• a magnifier of images of distant objects

• electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electrical quantities

• the context and environment in which something is set

• the state of the environment in which a situation exists

• arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted

• the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event

• the physical position of something

• a table service for one person

• a mounting consisting of a piece of metal (as in a ring or other jewelry) that holds a gem in place

• information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem

• extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured

• understate the importance or quality of

• (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear