foreign exchange

noun

1

: a process of settling accounts or debts between persons residing in different countries

2

: foreign currency or current short-term credit instruments payable in such currency

Examples of foreign exchange in a Sentence

Our country has to export more in order to earn more foreign exchange.

Recent Examples on the Web

The intent is to issue it in various currencies, while allowing for an internal market for cross-border and foreign exchange settlements. —Nick Sargen, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

Botswana relies on diamond sales for around 80% of foreign exchange earnings and has a decades-long diamond mining arrangement with De Beers. —semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2025

China’s currency is not freely convertible in world financial markets and its stringent controls on foreign exchange are the biggest hindrance toward making the yuan a global currency, experts say. —Nino Paoli, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2025

The dollar is on one side of nearly 90 percent of foreign exchange transactions and more than half of all global payments sent via SWIFT, the financial messaging platform used for much of the world’s trade. —Wally Adeyemo, Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1623, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for foreign exchange

• arrange
• derange
• estrange
• midrange
• change
• grange
• mange
• range
• strange
• interchange
• rearrange