[syn: external, international, outside(a)]
4. purely outward or superficial;
- Example: "external composure"
- Example: "an external concern for reputation"- A.R.Gurney,Jr.
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
External \Ex*ter"nal\, n.
Something external or without; outward part; that which makes
a show, rather than that which is intrinsic; visible form; --
usually in the plural.
[1913 Webster]
Adam was then no less glorious in his externals
--South.
[1913 Webster]
God in externals could not place content. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
External \Ex*ter"nal\, a. [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.
[1913 Webster]
Of all external things, . . .
She [Fancy] forms imaginations, aery shapes.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Outside of or separate from ourselves; (Metaph.) separate
from the perceiving mind.
[1913 Webster]
3. Outwardly perceptible; visible; physical or corporeal, as
distinguished from mental or moral.
[1913 Webster]
Her virtues graced with external gifts. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. Not intrinsic nor essential; accidental; accompanying;
superficial.
[1913 Webster]
The external circumstances are greatly different.
--Trench.
[1913 Webster]
5. Foreign; relating to or connected with foreign nations;
as, external trade or commerce; the external relations of
a state or kingdom.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Anat.) Away from the mesial plane of the body; lateral.
[1913 Webster]
External angles. (Geom.) See under Angle.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
external
adj 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: external,
extraneous, outside]
3: from or between other countries; "external commerce";
"international trade"; "developing nations need outside help"
[syn: external, international, outside(a)]
4: purely outward or superficial; "external composure"; "an
external concern for reputation"- A.R.Gurney,Jr.
n 1: outward features; "he enjoyed the solemn externals of
religion"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
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