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Local vs Foreign - What's the difference?

local | foreign |

As adjectives the difference between local and foreign

is that local is from or in a nearby location while foreign is located outside a country or place, especially one's own.

As nouns the difference between local and foreign

is that local is a person who lives nearby while foreign is foreigner.

local

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • From or in a nearby location.
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-12-01, volume=405, issue=8813, page=3 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist), title= An internet of airborne things
  • , passage=A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.}}
  • (computing, of a variable or identifier) Having limited scope (either lexical or dynamic); only being accessible within a certain portion of a program.
  • (mathematics, not comparable, of a condition or state) Applying to each point in a space rather than the space as a whole.
  • (medicine) Of or pertaining to a restricted part of an organism.
  • Descended from an indigenous population.
  • Synonyms

    * (medicine) topical

    Antonyms

    * global

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person who lives nearby.
  • It's easy to tell the locals from the tourists.
  • A branch of a nationwide organization such as a trade union.
  • I'm in the TWU, too. Local 6.
  • (rail transport) A train that stops at all, or almost all, stations between its origin and destination, including very small ones.
  • The expresses skipped my station, so I had to take a local .
  • (British) One's nearest or regularly frequented public house or bar.
  • I got barred from my local , so I've started going all the way into town for a drink.
  • (programming) A locally scoped identifier.
  • Functional programming languages usually don't allow changing the immediate value of locals once they've been initialized, unless they're explicitly marked as being mutable.
  • (US, slang, journalism) An item of news relating to the place where the newspaper is published.
  • Synonyms

    * (rail transport) stopper

    Antonyms

    * (rail transport) fast, express

    Derived terms

    * localism * locally

    foreign

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.
  • foreign''' markets''; '''''foreign soil
  • Originating from, characteristic of, belonging to, or being a citizen of a country or place other than the one under discussion.
  • foreign''' car''; '''''foreign''' word''; '''''foreign''' citizen''; '''''foreign trade
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-24, volume=408, issue=8850, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Guardian warriors and golden eggs , passage=Foreign' companies love to complain about doing business in China.
  • Relating to a different nation.
  • foreign''' policy''; '''''foreign navies
  • Not characteristic of or naturally taken in by an organism or system.
  • foreign''' body''; '''''foreign''' substance''; '''''foreign''' gene''; '''''foreign species
  • Alien; strange.
  • It was completely foreign to their way of thinking.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (Jonathan Swift)
  • This design is not foreign from some people's thoughts.
  • (label) Held at a distance; excluded; exiled.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (Shakespeare)
  • Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved him, / That he ran mad and died.
  • From a different one of the states of the United States, as of a state of residence or incorporation.
  • Belonging to a different organization, company etc.
  • Synonyms

    * (from a different country) overseas, international * (strange) alien, fremd * (in a place where it does not belong) extraneous

    Antonyms

    * (from a different country) domestic * (not characteristic) native * (native to an area) indigenous

    Derived terms

    {{der3, foreign body , foreign correspondent , foreign country , , foreign debt , foreign exchange , foreignize , foreignization , foreign key , foreignness , foreigner , foreign tongue , foreign policy , Foreign Office}}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (informal) foreigner
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=August 30 , author= , title=White House Extremely Worried About People Saying Dumb Stuff on 9/11 , work=Gawker citation , page= , passage=The messaging instructions come in two sets: one for domestics, another for the foreigns . }}