4 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

external

adjective

1: happening or arising or located outside or beyond some limits or especially surface; "the external auditory canal"; "external pressures" [ant: {internal}]

2: coming from the outside; "extraneous light in the camera spoiled the photograph"; "relying upon an extraneous income"; "disdaining outside pressure groups" [syn: {extraneous}, {outside}]

3: from or between other countries; "external commerce"; "international trade"; "developing nations need outside help" [syn: {international}, {outside(a)}]

4: purely outward or superficial; "external composure"; "an external concern for reputation"- A.R.Gurney,Jr.

noun: outward features; "he enjoyed the solemn externals of religion"

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

External \Ex*ter"nal\, noun Something external or without; outward part; that which makes a show, rather than that which is intrinsic; visible form; -- usually in the plural.

Adam was then no less glorious in his externals --South.

God in externals could not place content. --Pope.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

External \Ex*ter"nal\, adjective [L. externus, fr. exter, exterus, on the outside, outward. See {Exterior}.]

1. Outward; exterior; relating to the outside, as of a body; being without; acting from without; -- opposed to {internal}; as, the external form or surface of a body.

Of all external things, . . . She [Fancy] forms imaginations, aery shapes. --Milton.

2. Outside of or separate from ourselves; (Metaph.) separate from the perceiving mind.

3. Outwardly perceptible; visible; physical or corporeal, as distinguished from mental or moral.

Her virtues graced with external gifts. --Shak.

4. Not intrinsic nor essential; accidental; accompanying; superficial.

The external circumstances are greatly different. --Trench.

5. Foreign; relating to or connected with foreign nations; as, external trade or commerce; the external relations of a state or kingdom.

6. (Anat.) Away from the mesial plane of the body; lateral.

{External angles}. (Geom.) See under {Angle}.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

59 Moby Thesaurus words for "external": alien, apparent, border, circumference, cortex, cortical, covering, crust, envelope, epidermic, epidermis, exomorphic, exotic, exterior, extraneous, extraorganismal, extrinsic, facade, face, facet, foreign, fringe, front, impersonal, integument, lineaments, nonsubjective, objective, open, out, outer, outer face, outer layer, outer side, outer skin, outermost, outline, outlying, outmost, outside, outstanding, outward, outward-facing, over, perceptible, peripheral, periphery, public, rind, roundabout, seeming, shell, skin, superficial, superficies, superstratum, surface, top, visible

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