| background | (noun) scenery hung at back of stage | Synonyms: backcloth, backdrop |
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| (noun) (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear | Synonyms: desktop, screen background |
| (noun) a person's social heritage: previous experience or training | - |
| (noun) the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground | Synonyms: ground |
| (noun) information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem | Synonyms: background knowledge |
| (noun) extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured | Synonyms: background signal |
| (noun) relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation | - |
| (noun) the state of the environment in which a situation exists | Synonyms: scope, setting |
| backgrounder | (noun) a press conference or interview in which a government official explains to reporters the background of an action or policy | - |
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| backgrounding | (noun) the execution of low priority programs while higher priority programs are not using the processing system | Synonyms: background processing |
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| battleground | (noun) a region where a battle is being (or has been) fought | Synonyms: battlefield, field, field of battle, field of honor |
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| bedground | (noun) an area on which a drove of cattle or sheep can sleep for a night | Synonyms: bed-ground, bed ground |
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| campground | (noun) a site where people on holiday can pitch a tent | Synonyms: bivouac, camping area, camping ground, camping site, campsite, encampment |
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| fairground | (noun) an open area for holding fairs or exhibitions or circuses | - |
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| foreground | (noun) (computer science) a window for an active application | - |
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| (noun) the part of a scene that is near the viewer | - |
| foregrounding | (noun) the execution of a program that preempts the use of the processing system | Synonyms: foreground processing |
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| grouch | (noun) a bad-tempered person | Synonyms: churl, crank, crosspatch, grump |
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| ground | (noun) the first or preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface | Synonyms: flat coat, primer, primer coat, priming, priming coat, undercoat |
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| (noun) (art) the surface (as a wall or canvas) prepared to take the paint for a painting | - |
| (noun) a connection between an electrical device and a large conducting body, such as the earth (which is taken to be at zero voltage) | Synonyms: earth |
| (noun) the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground | Synonyms: background |
| (noun) a relatively homogeneous percept extending back of the figure on which attention is focused | - |
| (noun) a position to be won or defended in battle (or as if in battle) | - |
| (noun) a rational motive for a belief or action | Synonyms: occasion, reason |
| (noun) the solid part of the earth's surface | Synonyms: dry land, earth, land, solid ground, terra firma |
| (noun) material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use) | Synonyms: land, soil |
| (noun) a relation that provides the foundation for something | Synonyms: basis, footing |
| (noun) the loose soft material that makes up a large part of the land surface | Synonyms: earth |
| groundball | (noun) (baseball) a hit that travels along the ground | Synonyms: ground ball, grounder, hopper |
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| groundberry | (noun) creeping shrub of eastern North America having white bell-shaped flowers followed by spicy red berrylike fruit and shiny aromatic leaves that yield wintergreen oil | Synonyms: checkerberry, creeping wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, ground-berry, mountain tea, teaberry, wintergreen |
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| (noun) small prostrate or ascending shrub having scarlet flowers and succulent fruit resembling cranberries; sometimes placed in genus Styphelia | Synonyms: Astroloma humifusum, cranberry heath, ground-berry, native cranberry, Styphelia humifusum |
| groundbreaker | (noun) someone who helps to open up a new line of research or technology or art | Synonyms: innovator, pioneer, trailblazer |
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| groundbreaking | (noun) the ceremonial breaking of the ground to formally begin a construction project | Synonyms: groundbreaking ceremony |
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| groundcover | (noun) small plants other than saplings growing on a forest floor | Synonyms: ground cover |
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| (noun) low-growing plants planted in deep shade or on a steep slope where turf is difficult to grow | Synonyms: ground cover |
| grounder | (noun) (baseball) a hit that travels along the ground | Synonyms: ground ball, groundball, hopper |
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| groundfish | (noun) fish that live on the sea bottom (particularly the commercially important gadoid fish like cod and haddock, or flatfish like flounder) | Synonyms: bottom fish |
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| groundhog | (noun) reddish brown North American marmot | Synonyms: Marmota monax, woodchuck |
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| grounding | (noun) fastening electrical equipment to earth | Synonyms: earthing |
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| (noun) education or instruction in the fundamentals of a field of knowledge | Synonyms: foundation |
| groundkeeper | (noun) someone who maintains the grounds (of an estate or park or athletic field) | Synonyms: groundskeeper, groundsman |
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| groundlessness | (noun) the quality of lacking substance or value | Synonyms: idleness |
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| groundling | (noun) in Elizabethan theater: a playgoer in the cheap standing section | - |
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| groundmass | (noun) (geology) the matrix of fine-grained crystalline material in which larger crystals are embedded | - |
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| groundnut | (noun) nutlike tuber; important food of Native Americans | Synonyms: potato bean, wild bean |
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| (noun) pod of the peanut vine containing usually 2 nuts or seeds; `groundnut' and `monkey nut' are British terms | Synonyms: earthnut, goober, goober pea, monkey nut, peanut |
| (noun) a North American vine with fragrant blossoms and edible tubers; important food crop of Native Americans | Synonyms: Apios americana, Apios tuberosa, groundnut vine, Indian potato, potato bean, wild bean |
| grounds | (noun) the enclosed land around a house or other building | Synonyms: curtilage, yard |
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| (noun) your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief | Synonyms: evidence |
| (noun) a justification for something existing or happening | Synonyms: cause, reason |
| (noun) a tract of land cleared for some special purposes (recreation or burial etc.) | - |
| (noun) dregs consisting of solid particles (especially of coffee) that form a residue | - |
| groundsel | (noun) Eurasian weed with heads of small yellow flowers | Synonyms: Senecio vulgaris |
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| groundsheet | (noun) a waterproofed piece of cloth spread on the ground (as under a tent) to protect from moisture | Synonyms: ground cloth |
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| groundskeeper | (noun) someone who maintains the grounds (of an estate or park or athletic field) | Synonyms: groundkeeper, groundsman |
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| groundsman | (noun) someone who maintains the grounds (of an estate or park or athletic field) | Synonyms: groundkeeper, groundskeeper |
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| groundspeed | (noun) the speed of an aircraft relative to the ground | - |
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| groundwork | (noun) preliminary preparation as a basis or foundation | - |
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| (noun) lowest support of a structure | Synonyms: base, foot, foundation, fundament, substructure, understructure |
| (noun) the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained | Synonyms: base, basis, cornerstone, foundation, fundament |
| group | (noun) any number of entities (members) considered as a unit | Synonyms: grouping |
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| (noun) a set that is closed, associative, has an identity element and every element has an inverse | Synonyms: mathematical group |
| (noun) (chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule | Synonyms: chemical group, radical |
| grouper | (noun) usually solitary bottom sea basses of warm seas | - |
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| (noun) flesh of a saltwater fish similar to sea bass | - |
| groupie | (noun) an enthusiastic young fan (especially a young woman who follows rock groups around) | - |
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| grouping | (noun) any number of entities (members) considered as a unit | Synonyms: group |
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| (noun) the activity of putting things together in groups | - |
| (noun) a system for classifying things into groups | Synonyms: pigeonholing |
| groupthink | (noun) decision making by a group (especially in a manner that discourages creativity or individual responsibility) | - |
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| groupware | (noun) software that can be used by a group of people who are working on the same information but may be distributed in space | - |
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| grouse | (noun) popular game bird having a plump body and feathered legs and feet | - |
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| (noun) flesh of any of various grouse of the family Tetraonidae; usually roasted; flesh too dry to broil | - |
| grouseberry | (noun) shrub of northwestern North America bearing red berries | Synonyms: grouse-berry, grouse whortleberry, Vaccinium scoparium |
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| grout | (noun) a thin mortar that can be poured and used to fill cracks in masonry or brickwork | - |
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| ingroup | (noun) an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose | Synonyms: camp, clique, coterie, inner circle, pack |
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| newsgroup | (noun) an area on a computer network, especially on the internet, devoted to the discussion of a specified topic | - |
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| playground | (noun) yard consisting of an outdoor area for children's play | - |
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| (noun) an area where many people go for recreation, holidays or other purposes | Synonyms: resort area, vacation spot |
| sandgrouse | (noun) pigeon-like bird of arid regions of the Old World having long pointed wings and tail and precocial downy young | Synonyms: sand grouse |
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| subgroup | (noun) (mathematics) a subset (that is not empty) of a mathematical group | - |
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| (noun) a distinct and often subordinate group within a group | - |
| underground | (noun) an electric railway operating below the surface of the ground (usually in a city) | Synonyms: metro, subway, subway system, tube |
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| (noun) a secret group organized to overthrow a government or occupation force | Synonyms: resistance |