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Background vs. Identity — What's the Difference?

Background vs. Identity — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Background and Identity

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Background

The part of a picture, scene, or design that forms a setting for the main figures or objects, or appears furthest from the viewer
The word is written in white on a red background
The house stands against a background of sheltering trees

Identity

The fact of being who or what a person or thing is
She believes she is the victim of mistaken identity
He knows the identity of the bombers

Background

The circumstances or situation prevailing at a particular time or underlying a particular event
The political and economic background
Background information

Identity

A close similarity or affinity
An identity between the company's own interests and those of the local community

Background

Form a background to
Windswept land backgrounded by the Rockies
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Identity

A transformation that leaves an object unchanged.

Background

Provide with background
The embassy backgrounded American reporters

Identity

The equality of two expressions for all values of the quantities expressed by letters, or an equation expressing this, e.g. (x + 1)² = x² + 2x + 1.

Background

The ground or scenery located behind something.

Identity

The condition of being a certain person or thing
What is the identity of the author of the manuscript?.

Background

The part of a pictorial representation that appears to be in the distance and that provides relief for the principal objects in the foreground.

Identity

The set of characteristics by which a person or thing is definitively recognizable or known
"The identity of the nation had ... been keenly contested in the period of nationalist opposition to Imperial rule" (Judith M. Brown).

Background

The general scene or surface against which designs, patterns, or figures are represented or viewed.

Identity

The awareness that an individual or group has of being a distinct, persisting entity
"He felt more at home thousands of miles from Britain than he did in an English village four miles from his home ... Was he losing his identity?" (Robert Fallon).

Background

A position, area, or situation that is not immediately in one's attention or notice
You can hear traffic moving in the background during the interview.

Identity

The fact or condition of being the same as something else
The identity of the two handwriting samples was established by an expert.

Background

(Computers) The environment in which programs operate that the user does not engage with directly
Processes that run in the background.

Identity

The fact or condition of being associated or affiliated with something else
The identity between mass and energy.

Background

The circumstances and events surrounding or leading up to an event or occurrence.

Identity

Information, such as an identification number, used to establish or prove a person's individuality, as in providing access to a credit account.

Background

A person's experience, training, and education
Her background in the arts is impressive.

Identity

An equation that is satisfied by any number that replaces the letter for which the equation is defined.

Background

The cultural or social environment in which a person was brought up or has lived
A class with students from many different backgrounds.

Identity

Identity element.

Background

Subdued music played especially as an accompaniment to dialogue in a dramatic performance.

Identity

Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same.

Background

Sound that intrudes on or interferes with an audio recording.

Identity

The difference or character that marks off an individual or collective from the rest of the same kind, selfhood, sense of who something or someone or oneself is, or the recurring characteristics that enable the recognition of such an individual or group by others or themself.
I've been through so many changes, I have no sense of identity.
This nation has a strong identity.

Background

Low-level radiation, as from radioactive decay, that exists as part of the natural environment.

Identity

A name or persona—a mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known.
This criminal has taken on several identities.
In this show, the competitor's identity will remain secret until after the vote.

Background

Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.
Background noise
The antivirus program runs on a background thread.

Identity

(mathematics) An equation which always holds true regardless of the choice of input variables.
The equation (x+y)(x−y) = x2−y2 is an algebraic identity. It is true regardless of the values of x and y.

Background

One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past.
The lawyer had a background in computer science.

Identity

Any function which maps all elements of its domain to themselves.

Background

A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.

Identity

(algebra) An element of an algebraic structure which, when applied to another element under an operation in that structure, yields this second element.

Background

Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.

Identity

A well-known or famous person.

Background

A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground).
There was tons of noise in the background.
The photographer let us pick a background for the portrait.

Identity

The state or quality of being identical, or the same; sameness.
Identity is a relation between our cognitions of a thing, not between things themselves.

Background

(computing) The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).

Identity

The condition of being the same with something described or asserted, or of possessing a character claimed; as, to establish the identity of stolen goods.

Background

(computing) A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.
The antivirus program is running in the background.

Identity

An identical equation.

Background

(physics) background radiation

Identity

The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity;
You can lose your identity when you join the army

Background

To put in a position that is not prominent.

Identity

The individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known;
Geneticists only recently discovered the identity of the gene that causes it
It was too dark to determine his identity
She guessed the identity of his lover

Background

(journalism) To gather and provide background information (on).

Identity

An operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates;
The identity under numerical multiplication is 1

Background

Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.

Identity

Exact sameness;
They shared an identity of interests

Background

The space which is behind and subordinate to a portrait or group of figures.

Background

Anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a background of red hangings.

Background

A place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight.
I fancy there was a background of grinding and waiting before Miss Torry could produce this highly finished . . . performance.
A husband somewhere in the background.

Background

The set of conditions within which an action takes place, including the social and physical conditions as well as the psychological states of the participants; as, within the background of the massive budget deficits of the 1980's, new spending programs had little chance of passage by the congress.

Background

The set of conditions that precede and affect an action, such as the social and historical precedents for the event, as well as the general background{5}; as, against the background of their expulsion by the Serbs, the desire of Kosovars for vengeance is understandable though regrettable.

Background

The signals that may be detected by a measurement which are not due to the phenomenon being studied, and tend to make the measurement uncertain to a greater or lesser degree.

Background

An agreement between a journalist and an interviewee that the name of the interviewee will not be quoted in any publication, although the substance of the remarks may be reported; - often used in the phrase "on background". Compare deep background.

Background

A person's social heritage: previous experience or training;
He is a lawyer with a sports background

Background

The part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground;
He posed her against a background of rolling hills

Background

Information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem;
The embassy filled him in on the background of the incident

Background

Extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured;
They got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals

Background

Relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation;
When the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background

Background

The state of the environment in which a situation exists;
You can't do that in a university setting

Background

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

Background

Scenery hung at back of stage

Background

Understate the importance or quality of;
He played down his royal ancestry

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