backgrounding

verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbækˌɡraʊndɪŋ/

Definition

Providing essential context or historical information about a person, event, or subject to prepare someone for a deeper discussion.

Examples

• The briefing paper was useful for backgrounding the team on the project's previous failures.

• She spent the morning backgrounding the interns on the company's long-standing corporate policies.

• Effective backgrounding helps stakeholders understand why certain decisions were made years ago.

How to Use backgrounding

background someone on (collocation)

to provide someone with necessary context about a topic — "He backgrounded the committee on the history of the dispute."

be backgrounded by (collocation)

to receive context from a specific source — "The journalists were backgrounded by an anonymous official."

Synonyms of backgrounding

Words with a similar meaning to backgrounding:

• briefing
• orienting
• contextualizing
• priming

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