1SITUATIONthe situation, events, or information that are related to something and that help you to understand it 场合;环境;周围情况;背景
political/social/historical etc context
the political context of the election
此次选举的政治背景
place/put/see etc something in context
To appreciate what these changes will mean, it is necessary to look at them in context.
要明白这些变化的意义,就有必要了解它们的背景。
in the context of something
These incidents are best understood in the broader context of developments in rural society.
这些事件放在农村社会发展这一更大的背景中就容易理解了。
2SLthe words that come just before and after a word or sentence and that help you understand its meaning 上下文,语境
The meaning of ‘mad’ depends on its context.
一词的意义要视上下文而定。
3take/quote something out of contextUNFAIRto repeat part of what someone has said or written without describing the situation in which it was said, so that it means something quite different 脱离背景地复述某事,把某事断章取义
His comments, taken out of context, seem harsh.
如果不考虑当时的情形,他的那番话似乎很严厉。
Examples from the Corpus
take/quote something out of context• By confusingunrelatedissues and taking information out of context, you do readers a great disservice.• This has been taken completely out of context.• Jennings accused the program of quoting him out of context.
nCOLLOCATIONS
adjectives
the social/political/historical etc context
You often need to understand the cultural context of jokes.
a wider/broader/larger context (=a more general situation, set of events etc)
It’s important to look at the story in the wider context of medieval Spain.
an international/European/British etc context
We study the work of these artists in their European context.
a general context
This problem is occurring within a general context of economic difficulty.
verbs
see something in the context of something (=consider and understand something in relation to a particular situation)
His life and work must be seen in the context of his youth.
look at/examine etc something in context
Although this does not seem to be a good result, let’s examine it in context.
put something in/into context (=consider something in context)
These statistics need to be put into context.
place/set something in context (=consider something in context)
The issue must be placed within its historical context.
provide a context for something
The study provides a context for future research.
Examples from the Corpus
context• But all this takes place within a context of direction.• This makes it absolutely clear that the early road and the drainsbelong in a mid to late second-century context.• These must be developed in context, through experiences.• The eucharistic recall of the paschal mystery was simply inserted into this thank-offering context.• English words can have several meaningsdepending on context.• The relationship between the sentence context and the target word varied.• It also occurs in the context of political protest.• It is recognised that in the Catholic school they will also be seen within the context of a wider and life-long catechesis.• In this context, a neutronstar is effectively a singleatomicnucleus.
broader context• I had a broader context than most of the guys who just grew up in the street business.• Thus as I look at the figures I see the question in a broader context.• In a broader context, however, these variations have their limits.• The sharpmedicaledge of her lecture would be blunted towards the end by placing the Black Death in its broader context.• This brings us to consider the broader context of industrialconflict.• This is isolation and, in the broader context, the notion of what it means to be an island.• Generalevolution takes place when the broader context itself changes, a process that is both unintentional and willed.• The Tsar's support for emancipation must be understood within the broader context of the State's role in a serf-based society.
Origincontext
(1400-1500)Latincontextus“connection of words”, from contexere“to weave together”, from com- ( → COM-) + texere“to weave”