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backing

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

Musicians and vocalists who support the main performer.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

baking

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbækɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. music

    Musicians and vocalists who support the main performer.

  2. Support, especially financial.

  3. A liner or other material added behind or underneath.

  4. The mounting of a horse or other animal.

  5. The action of putting something back; a switching into reverse.

  6. Something forming a back that is added for strengthening

adjective

  1. music

    Providing support for the main performer.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Musicians and vocalists who support the main performer.

Used this way, backing is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Music/performance
  • Arts writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use backing

  • “His vigorous backing of the conservatives got him in trouble with progressives.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Forming

strong backing

Financial

full backing

Other combinations

political backingbacking platebacking store

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • backadverbBase word

    In or to or toward a former location.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • backernounPerson or profession

    Invests in a theatrical production.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • financial backingnounCompound term

    Financial resources provided to make some project possible.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • backedadjectiveRelated term

    Having a back or backing, usually of a specified type.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: musicians and vocalists who support the main performer

patronage

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.