foreign
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or derived from another country or nation; not native.
foreign cars.
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of or relating to contact or dealings with other countries; connected with foreign affairs.
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external to one's own country or nation.
a foreign country.
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carried on abroad, or with other countries.
foreign trade.
- Synonyms:
- international
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belonging to or coming from another district, province, etc.
-
located outside a specific district, province, etc.
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Law.
-
of or relating to law outside of local jurisdiction.
-
of or relating to another jurisdiction, as of another nation or state.
-
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belonging to or proceeding from other persons or things.
a statement supported by foreign testimony.
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not belonging to the place or body where found.
foreign matter in a chemical mixture.
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not related to or connected with the thing under consideration.
foreign to our discussion.
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alien in character; irrelevant or inappropriate; remote.
- Synonyms:
- outside, extraneous
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strange or unfamiliar.
adjective
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of, involving, located in, or coming from another country, area, people, etc
a foreign resident
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dealing or concerned with another country, area, people, etc
a foreign office
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not pertinent or related
a matter foreign to the discussion
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not familiar; strange
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in an abnormal place or position
foreign matter
foreign bodies
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law outside the jurisdiction of a particular state; alien
Other Word Forms
- foreignly adverb
- foreignness noun
- nonforeign adjective
- nonforeignness noun
- proforeign adjective
- quasi-foreign adjective
- unforeign adjective
Etymology
Origin of foreign
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English forein, from Old French forain, forein, from unattested Vulgar Latin forānus, derivative of Latin forās “outside”
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.
More recently, Hormuz and the Persian Gulf have been a Rubicon for American presidents, sometimes defining their foreign policy and taste for exercising military power.
Instead of building champions through traditional recruitment, the 73-year-old Pitino has assembled his roster by raiding rival schools—and foreign professional teams—to load his roster with experience.
We grew up with the same TV sitcoms and yet still valued being outside, which feels like a foreign concept today.
From Los Angeles Times
Britain's foreign minister Yvette Cooper warned her Iranian counterpart in a phone call "against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly", a foreign office statement said.
From Barron's
The expansion comes after Iran's foreign minister warned the UK it views its choice to let the US use British bases as "participation in aggression".
From BBC
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.
