prospect vs background

prospect and background both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
prospect	Yes	No	Yes	No
background	Yes	No	Yes	No

As nouns, background is a hyponym of prospect; that is, background is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than prospect:

prospect: the visual percept of a region
background: the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground

Other hyponyms of prospect include ground, coast, exposure, foreground, glimpse, middle distance, side view, tableau.

prospect (noun)	background (noun)
a prediction of the course of a disease	scenery hung at back of stage
the visual percept of a region	(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
belief about (or mental picture of) the future	a person's social heritage: previous experience or training
someone who is considered for something (for an office or prize or honor etc.)	the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground
the possibility of future success	information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem
	extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured
	relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation
	the state of the environment in which a situation exists

prospect (verb)	background (verb)
explore for useful or valuable things or substances, such as minerals	understate the importance or quality of
search for something desirable