externality
Americannoun
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externalities
plural
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the state or quality of being external to or outside someone or something; the fact of being outer, outward, or on the surface.
A child just learning to speak already has a sense of the externality of the world.
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something external; an outward feature, or all outward features considered together.
One can be too preoccupied with the externalities of religion.
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excessive attention to external or outward features; superficiality.
The article explores the externality of identity in a world of media-constructed self-image.
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a side effect of some process or activity, especially a negative effect of an economic activity that is not accounted for in the price of what is produced.
Externalities such as air pollution are sometimes eliminated through government regulation.
They argue that there is an externality from breeding new pets, as the cute babies crowd out older pets.
noun
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the state or condition of being external
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something external
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philosophy the quality of existing independently of a perceiving mind
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an economic effect that results from an economic choice but is not reflected in market prices
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of externality
Explanation
An externality is an outside factor or condition that can affect something else. A snow storm for example, is an externality that can cause delays at the airport. Externality comes from the Latin root word externus meaning "outside" or "outward." An externality is something on the outside that affects other things. Often an externality is a behavior or result of behavior by one party that affects others who have no choice in its happening. For example, factory pollution is an externality that can affect people's health and well-being. It's outside of their control and yet it has an impact on their lives.
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.
See Examples For:
Most people think of money as a macro phenomenon or externality.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
"In economics, we call that externality," she said.
From Science Daily ● May 22, 2024
“We create prosperous and exclusive communities, but in so doing also create neighborhoods with concentrated despair — the externality of stockpiled opportunity.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2023
The externality that’s unique to corn and soy is the obesity and disease that result from eating way too many foods that contain the industrial ingredients derived from them.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2022
Next comes our ordinary vision of the external world—and this, again, is pushed to its highest degree of externality by the employment of artificial aids to sight.
From Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death by F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry) Myers
How do you think about the potential externalities of AI, such as unemployment?
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
But those events tend to be intrinsic to business rather than externalities such as White House maneuvers or geopolitics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
Preparation for these varying externalities requires supply-chain middlemen and product sellers to anticipate consequential cost increases down the line—and implement them sooner than later, in order to cover their margins.
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2024
True cost accounting seeks to make those externalities visible.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2024
Properly speaking, the individual was related to God only through the externalities of the clan or tribal life, its common temple and its common sacra.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 2 "Hearing" to "Helmond" by Various
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