context noun [ C ] (CAUSE OF EVENT)

B2the situation within which something exists or happens, and that

can help explain it:
It is important to see all the fighting and bloodshed in his plays in historical context.
This small battle is very important in the context of Scottish history.
More examples

To understand this issue, it must first be situated in its context.

The production is deliberately styleless, and this takes the play out
of itshistorical context.
What was the context you found the word in?
He thinks smacking is OK in the context of a happy family.
His remarks were very tasteless in the context of a memorial service.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

context noun [ C ] (LANGUAGE)

C1 the text or speech that comes immediately before and after

aparticular phrase or piece of text and helps to explain its meaning:
In this exercise, a word is blanked out and you have to guess what it is
by looking at the context.

out of context

If words are used out of context, only a small separate part of what
was originally said or written is reported, with the resultthat their meaning is
not clear or is not understood:
The reporter took my remarks completely out of context.

Definition of context

1: the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on
its meaning

2: the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs : environment,

setting the historical context of the war
Examples of context in a Sentence

it was Dickens who first used the word detective in a literary context John
Mullan, How Novels Work, 2006

Entrepreneurship and civil freedoms depend on a context of civil order,

predictability, and individual security. Susan L. Woodward, Balkan Tragedy, 1995

the old building, its original acre, inside its high outer wall, was immune to
change, out of context and out of time. Harriet Doerr, The Tiger in the Grass,
1995

We need to look at the event within the larger context of world history.

The book puts these events in their proper historical and social contexts.

We need to consider these events in context.

Recent Examples of context from the Web

While New Orleans and other cities have removed Confederate monuments,
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who is black, is moving forward with plans to
recast signage and add context to the statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee and others
along Monument Avenue.

Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, "The first woman to start a bank a

black woman finally gets her due in the Confederacys capital," 14 July 2017

In between dishes, Nichols will provide context, telling stories about her
grandmother and the neighborhoods history.

Juliet Bennett Rylah, Los Angeles Magazine, "These Lavish Pop-Up Dinner Parties
Are Hosted in Historic L.A. Homes," 10 July 2017

In the social context of elite Washington, the Posts nabbing Trump as a guest was
a coup.

Joshua Green, Bloomberg.com, "The Remaking of Donald Trump," 6 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news
sources to reflect current usage of the word 'context.' Views expressed in the
examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us
feedback.

context, in Context

In its earliest uses (documented in the 15th century), context meant "the weaving
together of words in language." This sense, now obsolete, developed logically from
the word's source in Latin, contexere "to weave or join together." Context now most
commonly refers to the environment or setting in which something (whether words
or events) exists. When we say that something is contextualized, we mean that it is
placed in an appropriate setting, one in which it may be properly considered.

Origin and Etymology of context

Middle English, weaving together of words, from Latin contextus connection of

words, coherence, from contexere to weave together, from com- + texere to weave
more at technical

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1568

SEE WORDS FROM THE SAME YEAR

context Synonyms

Synonyms

ambient, atmosphere, climate, clime, environment, contexture, environs, medium,

milieu, mise-en-scne, setting, surround, surroundings, terrain

contextplay

noun

Definition of context for English Language Learners

: the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its
meaning
: the situation in which something happens : the group of conditions that exist
where and when something happens

Definition of context for Students

1 the words that are used with a certain word in writing or speaking Without the
context, I don't know what he meant by the word odd.

2 the situation in which something happens The book considers her actions in their
historical context.