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foreign

Pronunciation: /ˈfɒrɪn/
Translate foreign | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of foreign

adjective

  • 1of, from, in, or characteristic of a country or language other than one’s own:foreign currency a man with a foreign accent
  • dealing with or relating to other countries:foreign policy
  • of or belonging to another district or area:a visit to a foreign clan
  • coming or introduced from outside:the quotation is a foreign element imported into the work
  • 2strange and unfamiliar:I suppose this all feels pretty foreign to you
  • (foreign to) not belonging to or characteristic of:crime and brutality are foreign to our nature

Derivatives

foreignness

Pronunciation: /ˈfɒr(ə)nnɪs/
noun

Origin:

Middle English foren, forein, from Old French forein, forain, based on Latin foras, foris 'outside', from fores 'door'. The current spelling arose in the 16th century, by association with sovereign

Spelling help

Remember that foreign is spelled with the e before the i; the ending is -gn.

foreign in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of foreign in the US English dictionary
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Word of the day

monocular

/ məˈnɒkjʊlə /
adjective , noun
with, for, or in one eye …