Foreign definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FOREIGN, a. for'an. [L. foris, foras.]
1. Belonging to another nation or country; alien; not of the country in which one resides; extraneous. We call every country foreign, which is not within the jurisdiction of our own government. In this sense, Scotland before the union was foreign to England, and Canada is now foreign to the United States. More generally foreign is applied to countries more remote than an adjacent territory; as a foreign market; a foreign prince. In the United States, all transatlantic countries are foreign.
2. Produced in a distant country or jurisdiction; coming from another country; as foreign goods; goods of foreign manufacture; a foreign minister.
3. Remote; not belonging; not connected; with to or from. You dissemble; the sentiments you express are foreign to your heart. This design is foreign from my thoughts. [The use of from is preferable and best authorized.]
4. Impertinent; not pertaining; not to the purpose. The observation is foreign from the subject under consideration.
5. Excluded; not admitted; held at a distance.
6. Extraneous; adventitious; not native or natural.
7. In law, a foreign attachment is an attachment of the goods of a foreigner within a city or liberty, for the satisfaction of a debt due from the foreigner to a citizen; or an attachment of the money or goods of a debtor, in the hands of another person.
A foreign bill of exchange, is a bill drawn by a person in one country, on his correspondent or agent in another, as distinguished from an inland bill, which is drawn by one person or another in the same jurisdiction or country.
Foreign plea, a plea or objection to a judge as incompetent to try the question, on the ground that it is not within his jurisdiction.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of concern to or concerning the affairs of other nations (other than your own); "foreign trade"; "a foreign office" [ant: domestic]
2: relating to or originating in or characteristic of another place or part of the world; "foreign nations"; "a foreign accent"; "on business in a foreign city" [syn: foreign, strange] [ant: native]
3: not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something; "an economic theory alien to the spirit of capitalism"; "the mysticism so foreign to the French mind and temper"; "jealousy is foreign to her nature" [syn: alien, foreign]
4: not belonging to that in which it is contained; introduced from an outside source; "water free of extraneous matter"; "foreign particles in milk" [syn: extraneous, foreign]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English forein, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin foranus on the outside, from Latin foris outside — more at forum Date: 13th century 1. situated outside a place or country; especially situated outside one's own country 2. born in, belonging to, or characteristic of some place or country other than the one under consideration 3. of, relating to, or proceeding from some other person or material thing than the one under consideration 4. alien in character ; not connected or pertinent 5. related to or dealing with other nations 6. a. occurring in an abnormal situation in the living body and often introduced from outside <a foreign body lodged in the esophagus> b. not recognized by the immune system as part of the self <foreign proteins> 7. not being within the jurisdiction of a political unit (as a state) Synonyms: see extrinsic • foreignness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 of or from or situated in or characteristic of a country or a language other than one's own. 2 dealing with other countries (foreign service). 3 of another district, society, etc. 4 (often foll. by to) unfamiliar, strange, uncharacteristic (his behaviour is foreign to me). 5 coming from outside (a foreign body lodged in my eye). Phrases and idioms: foreign aid money, food, etc. given or lent by one country to another. foreign exchange 1 the currency of other countries. 2 dealings in these. foreign legion a body of foreign volunteers in an army (esp. the French army). foreign minister (or secretary) a government minister in charge of his or her country's relations with other countries. foreign office a government department dealing with other countries. Derivatives: foreignness n. Etymology: ME f. OF forein, forain ult. f. L foras, -is outside: for -g- cf. sovereign

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Foreign For"eign, a. [OE. forein, F. forain, LL. foraneus, fr. L. foras, foris, out of doors, abroad, without; akin to fores doors, and E. door. See Door, and cf. Foreclose, Forfeit, Forest, Forum.] 1. Outside; extraneous; separated; alien; as, a foreign country; a foreign government. ``Foreign worlds.'' --Milton. 2. Not native or belonging to a certain country; born in or belonging to another country, nation, sovereignty, or locality; as, a foreign language; foreign fruits. ``Domestic and foreign writers.'' --Atterbury. Hail, foreign wonder! Whom certain these rough shades did never breed. --Milton. 3. Remote; distant; strange; not belonging; not connected; not pertaining or pertient; not appropriate; not harmonious; not agreeable; not congenial; -- with to or from; as, foreign to the purpose; foreign to one's nature. This design is not foreign from some people's thoughts. --Swift. 4. Held at a distance; excluded; exiled. [Obs.] Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved him, That he ran mad and died. --Shak. Foreign attachment (Law), a process by which the property of a foreign or absent debtor is attached for the satisfaction of a debt due from him to the plaintiff; an attachment of the goods, effects, or credits of a debtor in the hands of a third person; -- called in some States trustee, in others factorizing, and in others garnishee process. --Kent. --Tomlins. --Cowell. Foreign bill, a bill drawn in one country, and payable in another, as distinguished from an inland bill, which is one drawn and payable in the same country. In this latter, as well as in several other points of view, the different States of the United States are foreign to each other. See Exchange, n., 4. --Kent. --Story. Foreign body (Med.), a substance occurring in any part of the body where it does not belong, and usually introduced from without. Foreign office, that department of the government of Great Britain which has charge British interests in foreign countries.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. Something or someone that is foreign comes from or relates to a country that is not your own. ...in Frankfurt, where a quarter of the population is foreign... She was on her first foreign holiday without her parents. ...a foreign language... It is the largest ever private foreign investment in the Bolivian mining sector. ADJ 2. In politics and journalism, foreign is used to describe people, jobs, and activities relating to countries that are not the country of the person or government concerned. ...the German foreign minister... I am the foreign correspondent in Washington of La Tribuna newspaper of Honduras. ...the effects of US foreign policy in the 'free world'. ADJ: ADJ n 3. A foreign object is something that has got into something else, usually by accident, and should not be there. (FORMAL) The patient's immune system would reject the transplanted organ as a foreign object. ADJ: usu ADJ n 4. Something that is foreign to a particular person or thing is not typical of them or is unknown to them. The very notion of price competition is foreign to many schools... ADJ: usu v-link ADJ to n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Alien, external, exterior, outward, strange, exotic, from abroad. 2. Extraneous, extrinsic, adventitious, irrelevant.

Moby Thesaurus

accidental, adventitious, alien, apart, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, curious, detached, disconnected, discrete, disjunct, disrelated, dissociated, distant, distasteful, exotic, exterior, external, exterrestrial, exterritorial, extragalactic, extralateral, extraliminal, extramundane, extramural, extraneous, extraorganismal, extrapolar, extraprovincial, extrasolar, extraterrestrial, extraterritorial, extratribal, extrinsic, foreign-born, immaterial, impersonal, impertinent, imported, inapplicable, inapposite, inappropriate, incommensurable, incomparable, incompatible, incongruous, inconsistent, inconsonant, independent, insular, intrusive, irrelative, isolated, nonsubjective, objective, obnoxious, odd, other, outland, outlandish, outlying, outside, outward, overseas, peculiar, remote, removed, repellent, repugnant, segregate, separate, separated, strange, tramontane, transalpine, transatlantic, transpacific, ulterior, unaffiliated, unallied, unassimilable, unassociated, unconnected, unearthly, unfamiliar, unknown, unrelatable, unrelated