expat
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does expat mean? Expat is short for expatriateāa person who has moved from their native country to another country permanently or for an extended period of time.The word expatriate can refer to a person who has been forced to live in another country (such as due to having been exiled or banished), but it most commonly refers to someone who has chosen to relocate to work in the new country or to retire there. Expats may or may not become citizens of the countries they move to, and they may or may not retain their original citizenship.If the word expat sounds like it has just about the same meaning as the word immigrant, thatās because it does. But expat is used much more narrowly. It can imply (or is at least associated with) a certain amount of wealth and privilegeāthings not implied by or associated with the word immigrant. The word expat is especially applied to Westerners and used by them to refer to themselves.The word expat is commonly preceded by the personās original nationality, as in an American expat in Paris. The word expatriate can also be used as a verb and an adjective, but expat is typically used as a noun (though it functions as an adjective in common phrases like expat community).Example: The city has such a large community of British expats that there are multiple pubs that serve as popular social spots for them.
Etymology
Origin of expat
First recorded in 1960ā65; by shortening
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.
"I was trying to get into every expat network in Buenos Aires - the private French schools, the French Embassy staff, the French chamber of commerce," Flament remembers.
From BBC
Puerto Vallarta, however, had remained almost immune to the state's daily violence, becoming a popular spot for American and Canadian tourists, and expats, escaping brutal winters back home.
From Barron's
The violence in the Puerto Vallarta area is unnerving Americaās community of expat retirees in Mexico, a destination popular with the growing number of people retiring abroad.
Elizabeth Shanahan, a California expat who moved from Newport Beach to Puerto Vallarta two decades ago, said that the television news made it seem as though buildings were being engulfed across the city.
From Los Angeles Times
By then expats had left China in droves, many of them saying too much had changed.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Ā© Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American HeritageĀ® Idioms Dictionary copyright Ā© 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
