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expat

expat

16 5.5
A person who lives in another country by choice
  • noun
  • /ˈɛkspæt/
translation icon : expatriado
  • Living in Spain as an expat has given her a chance to learn the language and culture.

Now what kind of expats were Paul and Julia Child?

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Examples

  • Rich British expat living in the Philippines.

  • I also had a lot of support from fellow expats who were very concerned about birthing choices.

    Blog text (15)
  • Yeah, my father was an expat.

  • So the experience that people will have is that it's not as lonely as it might be with being an expat in Japan.

  • Glad to be an American expat working in Europe since '95 to the present.

    Blog text (7)
  • I have been traveling around the world and living as an expat for over twenty years.

    Blog text (13)
  • By the way, I was chatting with a guy at an expat bar the other night.

    Blog text (7)
  • Dear all, my name is Goffredo and I am an Italian expat living and working in Paris.

    Blog text (8)
  • But here's the thing being an expat has taught me: you can't get rid of your culture.

    Blog text (15)
  • Steve was typical of many expatriates living in a Far Eastern enclave consisting mostly of other expats.

    Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

alien
vsexpat
  • Formal
201 3.3

A person from another country who is not a citizen where they live

is about living abroad by choice rather than legal status
foreigner
vsexpat
170 2.5

A person from a different country who is not a citizen

is used for a person who lives abroad usually by choice, not any visitor
expatriate
vsexpat
19 6.2

A person who lives in a country that is not their own

is the informal short form used more in speech

Antonyms

197 1.2

A person who lives in a particular area or community

118 1.9

A person born in a particular place

Surface Forms

expat singular
expats plural

Morphology

expat = patriot (semi-transparent) = ex + pat

The prefix 'ex-' indicates 'out of' or 'former', but the truncation of 'patriot' to 'pat' may not be immediately clear to all learners.

Etymology

Expat is short for expatriate, from the parts ex- 'out of' and patria 'native land', the same root you see in patriot. So an expat is someone who lives 'out of' their home country, usually by choice.