foreigner

noun

for·​eign·​er ˈfȯr-ə-nər 

ˈfär-

1

: a person belonging to or owing allegiance to a foreign country

2

chiefly dialectal : one not native to a place or community : stranger sense 1c

Synonyms

• nonnative
• outlander
• outsider
• stranger

Examples of foreigner in a Sentence

I can tell by your accent you're a foreigner in these parts.

Recent Examples on the Web

Athletic were founded in 1898 and originally played with foreigners after British workers and Basque students who had lived there brought football to Bilbao. —Tomás Hill López-Menchero, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025

For a country with more than thirty trillion dollars in outstanding government debt, about eight trillion of which is owned by foreigners, the spectre of a weakened Treasury bond market is alarming. —John Cassidy, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025

Spending still higher than 2019 The U.S. tourism industry is unlikely to get a boost from international travelers, as data shows waning foreign interest in visiting the United States in light of President Donald Trump’s trade policies and foreigner detentions at border crossings. —Bella Stoddart,monica Pitrelli, CNBC, 24 Apr. 2025

Those foreigners who remained in Moscow too long ultimately shared the fate of many of their Soviet comrades, executed during Stalin’s purges of the 1930s. —Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing foreigner

• anti-foreigner

Rhymes for foreigner

• coroner

Kids Definition

foreigner

noun

for·​eign·​er ˈfȯr-ə-nər 

ˈfär-

: a person who is from a foreign country