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.
-
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.
On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that the country would take "all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies".
From BBC
Since November, most foreign men aged 18 to 65 must register with the Russian military to obtain permanent residence or a passport.
From Barron's
Other benefits include lifting the financial results for US companies that report profits overseas and incentivizing foreign tourism to the United States.
From Barron's
Then, production was managed by a network of foreign firms, many from the US, operating under government concessions, until the industry was nationalised in 1976 and taken over by the state-owned giant, PDVSA.
From BBC
He describes the project as a case of “conservation imperialism,” in which poor communities bear the cost of foreign environmentalists’ actions.
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.
