Foreigner Meaning
/ˈfɒɹ.ɪ.nə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA person from a foreign country.
nounA private job run by an employee at a trade factory rather than going through the business.
Sentence Examples
Only if a foreigner has read much English poetry can he understand Shakespeare.
Being spoken to by a foreigner, I did not know what to do.
The fact that I was a foreigner was a big disadvantage.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new student was a ____ who spoke with an unfamiliar accent and was from France.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As a ____ in a new city, he found it quite challenging to navigate the complex public transit.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English forner, foreyner, foroner, forenere, augmentation of earlier forein (“foreigner”), from the adjective. Equivalent to foreign + -er. Use of the -er suffix may be due to analogy with Middle English straunger (“stranger”). Displaced native Old English elþēodiġ.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"By the existing law of Great Britain all foreigners have the unrestricted right of entrance and residence in this country; and while they remain in it are, equally with British subjects, under the protection of the law; nor can they be punished except for an offence against the law, and under the sentence of the ordinary tribunals of justice, after a public trial, and on a conviction founded on evidence given in open court. No foreigners, as such, can be sent out of this country by the Executive Government, except persons removed by virtue of treaties with other States; confirmed by Act of Parliament, for the mutual surrender of criminal offenders."
— 1852 May 4, Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, quotee, “FOREIGN REFUGEES.”, in Hansard's Parliamentary Debates:
"For a student of American history and a foreigner like myself, it is easier to understand all these extremisms of conscience."
— 1971 October 6, Alberto R. Oliva, “The American Sense of Guilt”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2024:
"Though foreigners did play some part in fighting as mercenaries for Gadhafi during the bloody Libyan war, the IOM and local leaders in Chad say the vast majority of Chadians, like Mohammed, were working to send remittances home."
— 2012 April 18, David McKenzie, “Chad’s migrant workers pay price for Libya conflict”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 01 Jan 2026:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The new student was a ____ who spoke with an unfamiliar accent and was from France.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As a ____ in a new city, he found it quite challenging to navigate the complex public transit.