foreign

comparative more foreign · superlative most foreign · alternative obsolete forane · alternative obsolete forraine

1. Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.

   foreign markets; foreign soil

   1 more example

   He liked visiting foreign cities.

2. Originating from, characteristic of, belonging to, or being a citizen of a country or place other than the one under discussion.

   foreign car; foreign word; foreign citizen; foreign trade

   3 more examples

   There are many more foreign students in Europe since the Erasmus scheme started.

   The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.

   1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020

   Foreign companies love to complain about doing business in China.[…]Amid such moans it is worth remembering that, for all the barriers that foreign multinationals face in China, it has welcomed them with open arms compared with the protectionism imposed by Japan and South Korea at comparable stages in their economic development.

   2013 August 24, “Guardian warriors and golden eggs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2023

3. Relating to a different nation.

   foreign policy; foreign navies

   1 more example

   Plus, the Department of Justice has argued in the past that SGEs are subject to the emoluments clause, which means they cannot take payments from foreign governments.

   2025 April 23, Zachary B. Wolf, “Elon Musk’s government role gets even murkier”, in CNN, archived from the original on 23 Jul 2025

4. Not characteristic of or naturally taken in by an organism or system.

   foreign body; foreign substance; foreign gene; foreign species

5. formerly with fromAlien; strange; uncharacteristic.

   It was completely foreign to their way of thinking.

   2 more examples

   [T]his deſign is not ſo foreign from ſome Peoples Thoughts, […]

   1708 December 15 (Gregorian calendar; date written), [Jonathan Swift], A Letter from a Member of the House of Commons in Ireland to a Member of the House of Commons in England, Concerning the Sacramental Test, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 14

   Only when one has seen a Control Office at first-hand does one realise the vast amount of unsparing but largely unsung work that is behind the eventual publication, perhaps, of a paragraph in this journal's "Motive Power Miscellany" recording the appearance, within hours of the complete blockage of a main line, of many of its trains, passenger and freight, on routes quite foreign to them; and of effective emergency services either side of the disaster area.

   1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 133

   Synonyms: alien, fremd

6. obsoleteHeld at a distance; excluded; exiled.

   Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved him, / That he ran mad and died.

   1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

7. CanadaUSlawFrom a different legal jurisdiction (state, province), even if within the same country.
8. Belonging to a different organization, company etc.

   My bank charges me $2.50 every time I use a foreign ATM.

9. obsoleteOutside, outdoors, outdoor.

plural foreigns · alternative obsolete forane · alternative obsolete forraine

1. A foreign person
   1. informalA foreigner: a person from another country.

      The messaging instructions come in two sets: one for domestics, another for the foreigns.

      2011 August 30, “White House Extremely Worried About People Saying Dumb Stuff on 9/11”, in Gawker

   2. obsoleteAn outsider: a person from another place or group.
   3. obsoleteA non-guildmember.
2. A foreign vehicle
   1. obsoleteA foreign ship.
   2. slangA foreign whip, a car produced abroad.

      In the foreign switching lanes and we riding […] A island I wanna live somewhere silent I'm shining I'm bout to flood my neck with diamonds Yeah I've been spitting facts these niggas lying I'm driving stolens, foreigns, yeah I'm riding

      2019 August 28, Yb Tak30ver, “Island”, 1:16

3. obsoleteAn outhouse; an outdoor toilet.

   Synonyms: backhouse, backside, bog, boggard, boghouse, carsey, chamber foreign, common house

4. A foreign area
   1. dialectalAn area of a community that lies outside the legal town or parish limits.
   2. obsoleteplural normallyAn area of a monastery outside its legal limits or serving as an outer court.
5. abbreviationShort for various phrases, including foreign language, foreign parts, and foreign service.