The Oxford English Dictionary recognises only two meanings for this word. One is " the ground or surface lying at the back of or beyond the chief objects of contemplation ". The other is " a less prominent position, where an object is not readily noticed ". The word has come into great favour, and is ranging a long way from the humble spheres assigned to it by the dictionary. Up to a point its extensions have been useful. To speak of examining the background of a proposal, in the sense of trying to find out what more there is in it than meets the eye, is a reasonable metaphor. And it is a reasonable extension of it to write:

Men and women with widely divergent backgrounds, ranging from graduates and trained social workers to a coalminer, a railway clerk, and a clerk in an ironmongery store, had in fact succeeded.

But, like all these new favourites, it is beginning to get out of hand, and to displace more precise words:

From your particulars it would appear that your background is more suitable for posts in Government Departments employing quantity surveyors.

This does not seem to mean anything different from " you are better qualified ".

It is surprising to find more women than men, but local experience provides the background; during the war women left an area where there were no jobs for them.

Here it seems to be masquerading as explanation.

It was agreed that a warden should possess a sound educational background.

Here it falls under suspicion of doing nothing at all except show off. Why not " a sound education "?