foreign

Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.

Adjective

  1. Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.
    • foreign markets; foreign soil
    • He liked visiting foreign cities.
  2. Originating from, characteristic of, belonging to, or being a citizen of a country or place other than the one under discussion.
    • foreign car; foreign word; foreign citizen; foreign trade
    • There are many more foreign students in Europe since the Erasmus scheme started.
    • The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked. - 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Case of Miss...
  3. Relating to a different nation.
    • foreign policy; foreign navies
    • Plus, the Department of Justice has argued in the past that SGEs are subject to the emoluments clause, which means they cannot take payments from foreign governments. - 2025 April 23, Zachary B. Wolf, “Elon Musk’s...
  4. Not characteristic of or naturally taken in by an organism or system.
    • foreign body; foreign substance; foreign gene; foreign species
  5. Alien; strange; uncharacteristic.
    • It was completely foreign to their way of thinking.
    • [T]his deſign is not ſo foreign from ſome Peoples Thoughts, […] - 1708 December 15 (Gregorian calendar; date written), [Jonathan Swift], A Letter from a Member of the House of Commons in Ireland to a Member of the House...
    • Only when one has seen a Control Office at first-hand does one realise the vast amount of unsparing but largely unsung work that is behind the eventual publication, perhaps, of a paragraph in this journal's "Motive...
  6. Held at a distance; excluded; exiled.
    • Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved him, / That he ran mad and died. - 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William...
  7. From a different legal jurisdiction (state, province), even if within the same country.
  8. Belonging to a different organization, company etc.
    • My bank charges me $2.50 every time I use a foreign ATM.
  9. Outside, outdoors, outdoor.

Origin

From Middle English foreyn, forein, from Old French forain, from Vulgar Latin *forānus (“outsider, outlander”), from Latin forās (“outside, outdoors”) or forīs (“outside, outdoors”). Displaced native Old English elþēodiġ (“foreign”) and now-dialectal English fremd, from Old English fremde (“strange, foreign”). The silent -g- added perhaps by analogy with reign (compare also sovereign which was similarly altered).

Forms

more foreign most foreign forane forraine

Synonyms

overseas international alien fremd extraneous acquired additional adventitious ascititious foreign intrusive outlandish strange supplemental tramontane

Antonyms

domestic native indigenous innate natural

Hypernyms

extrinsic

Hyponyms

implanted inculcated infused ingrafted introduced learned

Derived

antiforeign chamber foreign doctrine of foreign equivalents foreign accent syndrome foreign affairs foreign agent foreign aid foreign body foreign-born foreign correspondent foreign country foreign currency foreigncy foreign debt foreign devil foreign direct investment foreigner foreign exchange foreign exchange certificate foreign exchange market foreign exchange risk foreign fighter foreign investment foreignise

Noun

  1. A foreign person, particularly:
    • The messaging instructions come in two sets: one for domestics, another for the foreigns. - 2011 August 30, “White House Extremely Worried About People Saying Dumb Stuff on 9/11”, in Gawker:

    1. (now informal) A foreigner: a person from another country.

    2. (obsolete) An outsider: a person from another place or group.

    3. (obsolete) A non-guildmember.

  2. A foreign vehicle, particularly:

    1. (obsolete) A foreign ship.

    2. (slang) A foreign whip, a car produced abroad.

      • In the foreign switching lanes and we riding […] A island I wanna live somewhere silent I'm shining I'm bout to flood my neck with diamonds Yeah I've been spitting facts these niggas lying I'm driving stolens, foreigns,...
  3. An outhouse; an outdoor toilet.
    • Ful foule ys þat forreyne Þat ys comoun for al certeyne. - 1303, Richard Mannyng, Handlyng Synne, l. 7436 f:

    Synonyms: backhouse backside bog boggard boghouse carsey chamber foreign common house commons Cousin John craphouse danna draught draught-house dunnekin dunny earth closet foreign gang gingerbread office gong gonghouse House of Commons house of ease

  4. A foreign area, particularly:

    1. (now dialect) An area of a community that lies outside the legal town or parish limits.

    2. (obsolete, usually in the plural) An area of a monastery outside its legal limits or serving as an outer court.

  5. Short for various phrases, including foreign language, foreign parts, and foreign service.

Forms

foreigns forane forraine