external
- adjective
- /ɪkˈstɜrnəl/
- Actually we see threats coming from all angles, internal and external, and we wonder what's going to happen to us individually and as a nation.
- external affairs
- external threats
- external influences
Is you know, from violence within or external to the country?
- Is you know, from violence within or external to the country?
- What do you think that the biggest external threat to the US is right now?
Examples
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Newton's first law states an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line, unless acted upon by an external force.
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The enemy was largely isolated and was denied any external aid during the course of the fighting.
Academic text (2015) -
So we expose it to external factors that could damage it.
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So did having an external assessor have an impact here?
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He said, you know, there were lots of external challenges.
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External communications have been suspended.
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They really value when external agencies can come in and help them.
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A large literature has highlighted the importance of external as well as internal factors in democratization processes.
Academic text (2013) -
Analytic models that do not consider the external pressures and obligations students face are incomplete.
Academic text (2015) -
The country is facing significant external challenges in trade and diplomacy.
Synonyms
Relating to two or more countries
About other countries and how a country deals with them
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
A blood vessel that carries blood to the face, tongue, and outer parts of the head
- Specialized
A large blood vessel on each side of the lower abdomen that carries blood to the leg
- Specialized
A large tube at the side of the neck that carries blood from the head to the chest
- Specialized
A flat slanted muscle on each side of the belly that helps turn and support the upper body
- Specialized
A blood vessel that carries blood from the neck to the face, tongue, and outer parts of the head
- Specialized
A service on the internet where you keep files and access them from any device
- Specialized
A machine like a steam engine that burns fuel outside its cylinder to use the heat to make motion
- Specialized
Money a company loses when faulty products reach customers, for example from returns or repairs
- Specialized
A large vein in the pelvis that carries blood from the leg to the heart
- Specialized
A vein that drains blood from the surface of the nose toward a vein in the face
- Specialized
A flat muscle on each side of the stomach that helps twist the body and pull in the waist
- Specialized
An opening at the end of the tube from the bladder where urine comes out
- Specialized
The process of taking in oxygen and sending out carbon dioxide in the lungs
How Foreign
Surface Forms
Morphology
external = extern (transparent) = extern + al
Formed by a straightforward adjective-forming suffix '-al' on 'extern' giving 'relating to the outside', which a learner can map to senses about foreign or outside factors.
Etymology
The word external comes from the Latin externus meaning 'outside' and the prefix ex- meaning 'out', just like in exit. So external affairs are things that come from 'outside' the country — foreign rather than domestic.