backdrop
/ˈbakdrɒp
/noun
1A painted cloth hung at the back of a theatre stage as part of the scenery.Alex is happy with the Art Alliance and has volunteered to paint some scenery backdrops for them....
- His father was an artist who designed backdrops for movies and stage plays.
- Olivier used painted backdrops of French fields and castles that were intended to suggest medieval artistic renderings.
1.1The setting or background for a scene, event, or situation: the conference took place against a backdrop of increasing diplomatic activity...
- This movie is a work of fiction, but it's played against a backdrop of historical events.
- Old insights are merely recycled in different permutations against a backdrop of current circumstances.
- The building demonstrations come against a backdrop of continued violence in the country.
verb (backdrops, backdropping, backdropped) [with object]
Lie behind or beyond; serve as a background to: the rolling hills that backdropped our camp...
- Not only is it busy movement-wise, the stage is a feast of visuals, with a blocky, retro cityscape pattern backdropping the slinky white and black costumes of the dancers.
- The country's bicentenary celebrations are backdropped by more political turmoil and a state of near-civil war.
- This one-off single sees the band present a genuinely beautiful take on Punjabi folk, backdropped by a loping funk beat and breathtakingly lovely guitar.