external

English

Etymology

From Middle French externe + -al, from Latin externus, from exter, exterus (“on the outside, outward”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɛksˈtɝnəl/, /ɪksˈtɝnəl/, /əksˈtɝnəl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪksˈtɜːnəl/, /əksˈtɜːnəl/, /ɛksˈtɜːnəl/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nəl

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧ter‧nal

Adjective

external (comparative more external, superlative most external)

1. Outside of something; on the exterior.

   This building has some external pipework.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 5”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Of all external things, […] / She [Fancy] forms imaginations, aery shapes.

   • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene v]:

     Her virtues graced with external gifts.

2. Not intrinsic nor essential; accidental; accompanying; superficial.
   • 1850, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord

     The external circumstances are greatly different.

3. Foreign; relating to or connected with foreign nations.

   external trade or commerce; the external relations of a state or kingdom

4. (anatomy) Away from the mesial plane of the body; lateral.
5. Provided by something or someone outside of the entity (object, group, company etc.) considered.

Synonyms

• (not intrinsic nor essential): See also Thesaurus:extrinsic

Antonyms

• internal

Related terms

• externalism
• externalist
• externality
• externalization
• externalize

 

Translations

outside of something

• Armenian: արտաքին (hy) (artakʿin)
• Bulgarian: външен (bg) (vǎnšen)
• Catalan: extern (ca) m, externa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 外部的 (zh) (wàibù de)

• Czech: externí (cs), vnější (cs)
• Danish: udvendig, ekstern, udvortes
• Dutch: uiterlijk (nl), uitwendig (nl)
• Esperanto: ekstera, malena
• Finnish: ulko- (fi), ulkoinen (fi), ulkonainen, ulkopuolinen (fi)
• French: externe (fr)
• Galician: externo (gl) m
• German: außen-, extern (de), äußerlich (de)
• Greek: εξωτερικός (el) (exoterikós)

  Ancient: ἐξώτερος (exṓteros)

• Hungarian: külső (hu)
• Ido: extera (io)

• Irish: imeachtrach
• Italian: esterno (it)
• Japanese: 外側の (ja) (そとがわの, sotogawa no), 外部の (ja) (がいぶの, gaibu no)
• Latin: exter (la), externus
• Maori: a waho, o waho, mōwaho
• Occitan: extèrne (oc) m, extèrna (oc) f
• Persian: بیرونی‎ (fa) (birōni), بیگانه‎ (fa) (bigâna, bigâne)
• Pitcairn-Norfolk: ekstirnal
• Polish: zewnętrzny (pl)
• Portuguese: externo (pt)
• Romanian: extern (ro)
• Russian: вне́шний (ru) (vnéšnij), нару́жный (ru) (narúžnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: èkstērnī (sh), ìzvanjskī (sh), vànjskī (sh)
• Spanish: externo (es) m
• Swedish: extern (sv)
• Telugu: బహిర్గత (bahirgata)
• Urdu: بیرونی‎ (bɛrūnī)

Noun

external (plural externals)

1. (chiefly in the plural) The exterior; outward features or appearances.
2. (programming) In the C programming language, a variable that is defined in the source code but whose value comes from some external source.

Further reading

• external in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• external in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• external at OneLook Dictionary Search