abroad
Americanadverb
-
in or to a foreign country or countries.
famous at home and abroad.
- Synonyms:
- overseas
- Antonyms:
- at-home
-
in or to another continent.
Shall we go to Mexico or abroad this summer?
-
out of doors; from one place to another; about.
No one was abroad in the noonday heat. The owl ventures abroad at night.
-
spread around; in circulation.
Rumors of disaster are abroad.
- Synonyms:
- rife, everywhere
-
broadly; widely; far and wide.
-
wide of the mark; in error.
noun
adverb
adjective
-
(of news, rumours, etc) in general circulation; current
-
out in the open
-
over a wide area
-
archaic in error
Etymology
Origin of abroad
First recorded in 1225–75, abroad is from the Middle English word abrod. See a- 1, broad
Explanation
If you study abroad in your junior year of college, you are going to school in another country. Use abroad when you are talking about going to or from a place across an ocean. Abroad really just means in a different country, but it is almost always used interchangeably with "overseas." You almost never hear an American say, "She lives abroad; she's studying in Canada." You might be eager to take a trip abroad. If so, get your passport ready. They won't let you board a plane going abroad without one.
Vocabulary lists containing abroad
Beowulf vocabulary
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Remote Learning: Synonyms for "Far"
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Franklin Roosevelt, "Four Freedoms" (1941)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To help attain that goal, China is hiring former military pilots from abroad who can impart combat skills and intelligence, American and other Western officials say.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
Crude prices spiked in the morning on reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamanei issued an order for the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium to not be sent abroad.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
Family members described him as dedicated to his children’s education and to his own learning, visiting various regional mosques and traveling abroad to study.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
In a separate development on Friday, President Erdoğan ordered the closure of Istanbul's independent Bilgi University, which has some 22,000 students from home and abroad.
From BBC • May 22, 2026
His bosses had canceled his last couple of trips abroad, Penkovsky explained.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
