background vs race

background

noun
  • One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past. 

  • Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history. 

  • The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows). 

  • A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context. 

  • A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground). 

  • A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user. 

verb
  • To put in a position that is not prominent. 

  • To gather and provide background information (on). 

adj
  • Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system. 

race

noun
  • A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage (compare ethnic group). See Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race. 

  • Subspecies. 

  • A race condition. 

  • A breed or strain of domesticated animal. 

  • A progressive movement toward a goal. 

  • Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life. 

  • A population geographically separated from others of its species that develops significantly different characteristics; a mating group. 

  • A fast-moving current of water, such as that which powers a mill wheel. 

  • A water channel, esp. one built to lead water to or from a point where it is utilised. 

  • An infraspecific rank, a pathotype, pathovar, etc. 

  • A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of common physical characteristics, such as skin color or hair type. 

  • A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. Example: Several horses run in a horse race, and the first one to reach the finishing post wins 

  • A large group of sentient beings distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage (compare species, subspecies). 

  • The bushings of a rolling element bearing which contacts the rolling elements. 

  • A rhizome or root, especially of ginger. 

  • A group or category distinguished from others on the basis of shared characteristics or qualities, for example social qualities. 

  • Swift progress; rapid motion; an instance of moving or driving at high speed. 

verb
  • To move or drive at high speed; to hurry or speed. 

  • To compete against in a race (contest). 

  • To take part in a race (in the sense of a contest). 

  • To assign a race to; to perceive as having a (usually specified) race. 

  • To run rapidly when not engaged to a transmission. 

How often have the words background and race occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )