Etimology
From Middle English foreyn, forein, from Old French forain, from Vulgar Latin *forānus (“outsider, outlander”), from Latin forās (“outside, outdoors”), also spelled forīs (“outside, outdoors”). Displaced native Old English elþēodiġ (“foreign”) and now-dialectal English fremd, from Old English fremde (“strange, foreign”). The silent -g- added perhaps by analogy with reign (compare also sovereign which was similarly altered).
adjective
foreign (comparative more foreign, superlative most foreign)
Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.
Originating from, characteristic of, belonging to, or being a citizen of a country or place other than the one under discussion.
Relating to a different nation.
Not characteristic of or naturally taken in by an organism or system.
(with to, formerly with from) Alien; strange.
(obsolete) Held at a distance; excluded; exiled.
(US, state law) From a different one of the states of the United States, as of a state of residence or incorporation.
Belonging to a different organization, company etc.
(obsolete) Outside, outdoors, outdoor.
Examples
foreign markets; foreign soil
He liked visiting foreign cities.
foreign car; foreign word; foreign citizen; foreign trade
The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.
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.
There are many more foreign students in Europe since the Erasmus scheme started.
foreign policy; foreign navies
foreign body;foreign substance;foreign gene;foreign species
It was completely foreign to their way of thinking.
[T]his deſign is not ſo foreign from ſome Peoples Thoughts, […]
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.
Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved him, / That he ran mad and died.
My bank charges me $2.50 every time I use a foreign ATM.
Related words
synonyms
(from a different country): overseas, international
(strange): alien, fremd
(in a place where it does not belong): extraneous
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "from a different country"): domestic
(antonym(s) of "not characteristic"): native
(antonym(s) of "native to an area"): indigenous
noun
foreign (plural foreigns)
A foreign person, particularly:
A foreign vehicle, particularly:
(obsolete) An outhouse; an outdoor toilet.
A foreign area, particularly:
Short for various phrases, including foreign language, foreign parts, and foreign service.
Examples
The messaging instructions come in two sets: one for domestics, another for the foreigns.
In the foreign switching lanes and we riding[…]A island I wanna live somewhere silentI'm shining I'm bout to flood my neck with diamondsYeah I've been spitting facts these niggas lyingI'm driving stolens, foreigns, yeah I'm riding
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bathroom
Ful foule ys þat forreyneÞat ys comoun for al certeyne.