Foreground

Etymology

From painting and photography, where the foreground is the part of a scene nearest the viewer, as opposed to the background. In the 20th century the noun became a verb, especially in criticism and analysis, meaning to give something prominence. Its opposite, “to background,” followed the same path.

verb · /FOR-grownd/
To bring something to the front of attention, making it the focus.
What it names
A choice about emphasis — deciding what a reader or viewer notices first, and by implication what recedes.
Example
The documentary foregrounds the workers’ voices and leaves the executives almost silent.
Related idea
To foreground is to move something into focus; to relegate is to push it into the background. Every act of foregrounding quietly relegates something else.
noun · /FOR-grownd/
The part of a scene or picture nearest to the viewer, in front of everything else.
What it names
the near zone of a view or image
Example
A single figure stands in the foreground, with the mountains far behind.
Related idea
The verb grew out of this: to foreground an idea is to move it into this near, most-noticed zone — the opposite of leaving it in the background.