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Outer vs Exterior - What's the difference?

outer | exterior |

As adjectives the difference between outer and exterior

is that outer is outside; external while exterior is relating to the outside parts or surface of something.

As nouns the difference between outer and exterior

is that outer is an outer part while exterior is the outside part, parts or surface of something.

outer

English

Etymology 1

Comparative of out by analogy with inner.

Adjective

  • Outside; external.
  • Farther from the centre of the inside.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.}}
    Antonyms
    * inner

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An outer part.
  • *
  • The part of a target which is beyond the circles surrounding the bullseye.
  • A shot which strikes the outer of a target.
  • (wholesale trade) the smallest single unit normally sold to retailers, usually equal to one retail display box.
    • We ordered two cartons with twelve outers in each.

    Derived terms

    * outer space * outerness

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone who admits to something publicly.
  • Someone who outs another.
  • One who puts out, ousts, or expels.
  • An ouster; dispossession.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    exterior

    English

    Alternative forms

    * exteriour (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Relating to the outside parts or surface of something.
    • the exterior part of a sphere
  • * Shakespeare
    • Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man / Resemble that it was.
  • Being from outside a country; foreign.
    • the exterior relations of a state or kingdom
  • Outdoors.

    • Antonyms

    * interior

    Related terms

    * exteriorize, exteriorise

    See also

    * external

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The outside part, parts or surface of something.
    • The sticker was attached to the exterior of the package
  • * '>citation
  • Foreign lands.
    • She is our new minister of the exterior

    Antonyms

    * interior