Context: The Surroundings That Give Something Its Meaning
Context is the setting in which something occurs, and which determines what it means. A quotation taken out of context can be made to say almost anything.
Context is everything around a thing that makes it mean what it means. This is not a soft claim: the same sentence can be a threat, a joke or a warning depending entirely on what surrounds it, which is why *out of context* is such a powerful complaint.
- Surrounding text. *The word's meaning is clear from context.*
- The situation surrounding an event. *In the context of the recession.*
- Background needed to understand. *Provide some context first.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | context | Historical context. |
| Adjective | contextual | Contextual clues. |
| Verb | contextualise | Contextualise the findings. |
| Phrase | out of context | Quoted out of context. |
| Phrase | in context | Read in context. |
How it is used in a sentence
- In this context, the word means something quite different.In this context is the standard framing.
- The remark was taken out of context.The commonest defence in public life.
- Context clues help readers work out unfamiliar words.A teaching term.
How context settles meaning
- Linguistic context — the surrounding words: *bank* by a river or by a cashier
- Situational context — who is speaking, to whom, and where
- Cultural context — shared knowledge the speaker assumes
- Historical context — what the words meant at the time they were written
- Dictionaries list senses; only context tells you which one is in play
From Latin *contextus*, a joining together, from *contexere*, to weave together — *com* plus *texere*, to weave. The same root gives text and textile: a text is something woven, and its context is the weave around it.
In the context of or in context?
In the context of introduces the setting. In context alone means considered with its surroundings intact.
Is context the same as background?
Close, but background is information that helps; context is the setting that determines meaning.