foreigner

Person from abroad

A foreigner is someone from another country—a person who is not a citizen or native of the place where they currently are.

The word carries a slight edge of otherness or outsider status that alternatives like "international visitor" lack: Foreigners aren't allowed to own property here.

In older or more casual usage, foreigner can mean simply an outsider or stranger, someone unfamiliar to a particular community: He was treated as a foreigner in his wife's hometown.

displacement

refugee

Person fleeing danger abroad

exileBanishment from homeland
asylumShelter from persecution
expatriateOne living abroad permanently

emigrant · immigrant · migrant · deportee · defector · evacuee · displaced · stateless · diaspora · relocation

legal

visa

Travel authorization stamp

citizenshipStatus as state member
naturalizationLegal path to belonging
passportGovernment-issued travel credential

residency · alien · deportation · quota · sponsor · border · customs · documentation · undocumented · detention

outsider

stranger

Person not yet known

newcomerRecent arrival somewhere
interloperOne who enters uninvited
nonnativeNot indigenous to a place

visitor · guest · unknown · other · intruder · transient · sojourner · wanderer · passerby · unfamiliar

diversity

multicultural

Including multiple ethnic traditions

cosmopolitanCulturally sophisticated, internationally fluent
cross-culturalInvolving multiple societies
integrationCombining into a whole

pluralism · melting-pot · mosaic · polyglot · transnational · globalization · assimilation · coexistence · intercultural · tolerance

slur

gringo

Foreigner in Latin America

gaijinJapanese term for foreigner
haoleNon-native in Hawaii

curiosity

unfamiliarity

Lack of prior knowledge

explorationTraveling through unknown regions
discoveryAct of finding something
wonderAmazement or curiosity

observation · ethnography · anthropology · open-mindedness · fascination · inquiry · customs · traditions · acculturation · immersion

Categories

legal statusesmarried, single, divorced, citizen, widowed
foreignersimmigrant, immigrants, migrant, expats, non-native
stranger tropesoutsider, loner, newcomer, wanderer, mysterious stranger
othernessother, otherness, othering, stranger, outsider
people typesfriend, stranger, neighbor, enemy, buddy
residentsresident, residents, inhabitants, inhabitant, local

Opposites

national/legal status

foreignercitizen

Legal national member

national · native · countryman · countrywoman · compatriot

social belonging/familiarity

foreignerinsider

One with confidential access

local · native · member · one of us · familiar

geographic rootedness

foreignernative

Originating from a place

local · inhabitant · resident · habitant · native-born

Phrases

foreign languageAnother nation's speech
foreign countryNation beyond one's own
foreign policyInternational relations strategy
foreign aidCross-border governmental help
foreign influencesOutside forces affecting something
foreign exchange rateValue between two currencies

Family

foreign, foreigners, foreignness

Familiarity: Top 50,000
Profile: Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G