foregroup

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ group.

Noun

foregroup (plural foregroups)

1. A previous or prior grouping or assemblage.
   • 1897, Edward Jenkins, Pantalas and what They Did with Him:

     The most striking personage in the foregroup of visitors was one who had taken off his hat and disclosed a forehead of supernatural height, though of extreme narrowness, reminding one somewhat of the chimney of a parafiin lamp; […]

2. A group positioned in the fore or out front.
   • 1987, Jewish quarterly review:

     Sometimes the former were composed into a foregroup while the latter were consigned to the background; at other times the holy people were placed in a raised or semi-celestial station, the evil ones were "terrestrialized" in a lower station.