What does sfondo in Italian mean?

What is the meaning of the word sfondo in Italian? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use sfondo in Italian.

The word sfondo in Italian means background, backdrop, scenery, background, recess, opening, background, break, break down, make it big, hit the big time. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word sfondo

background

sostantivo maschile (campo visivo)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Sullo sfondo si intravedeva un piccolo villaggio.
A small village could be seen in the background.

backdrop, scenery

sostantivo maschile (teatro (teatro: scena)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Per la rappresentazione useranno uno sfondo blu con alcune nuvole disegnate.
They'll use a blue backdrop with some clouds drawn on it for the play.

background

sostantivo maschile (figurato (contesto) (figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La guerra fa da sfondo alla storia d'amore.
The war is the setting for the love story.

recess, opening

sostantivo maschile (spazio delimitato) (architecture)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Si vede un piccolo sfondo di mare tra le facciate opposte dei due palazzi.
You can see the sea in the opening between the opposing facades of the two buildings.

background

sostantivo maschile (fotografia) (photography)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
I loro visi sono a fuoco mentre lo sfondo è sfocato.
Their faces are in focus while the background is blurry.

break

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (rompere sul fondo)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Il grassone ha sfondato la sedia.
The fatty broke the chair.

break down

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (spaccare con forza)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Il ladro ha sfondato la porta con un martello.
The burglar broke down the door with a hammer.

make it big, hit the big time

verbo intransitivo (figurato, informale (avere successo) (colloquial)

Dopo una lunghissima gavetta la ballerina è finalmente riuscita a sfondare.
After paying her dues for a very long time the dancer finally managed to hit the big time.

Let's learn Italian

So now that you know more about the meaning of sfondo in Italian, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Italian.

Do you know about Italian

Italian (italiano) is a Romance language and is spoken by about 70 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Italian uses the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y do not exist in the standard Italian alphabet, but they still appear in loanwords from Italian. Italian is the second most widely spoken in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Italian is the principal working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. An important event that helped to the spread of Italian was Napoleon's conquest and occupation of Italy in the early 19th century. This conquest spurred the unification of Italy several decades later and pushed the language of the Italian language. Italian became a language used not only among secretaries, aristocrats and the Italian courts, but also by the bourgeoisie.