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Definition of "external" []

  • Relating to, existing on, or connected with the outside or an outer part; exterior. (adjective)
  • Suitable for application to the outside: external paints. (adjective)
  • Existing independently of the mind. (adjective)
  • Acting or coming from the outside: external pressures. (adjective)
  • Of or relating chiefly to outward appearance; superficial: "An internal sense of righteousness dwindles into an external concern for reputation” ( A.R. Gurney, Jr.) (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "external" in a sentence
  • "As he puts it in discussing the Sextus 'attitude to the external world, “His own deep skepticism leaves him in a state of epochê, not only as to whether there are any such things as ˜external objects', but even as to whether these terms of the Dogmatists have any intelligible meaning at all.”"
  • "And (not to mention your having discarded those archetypes) so may you suppose an external archetype on my principles; —external, I mean, to your own mind: though indeed it must be supposed to exist in that Mind which comprehends all things; but then, this serves all the ends of identity, as well as if it existed out of a mind."
  • "This enormous external current must be accompanied by some effect within the fish _equivalent_ to a current, the direction of which is from the tail towards the head, and equal to the sum of _all these external_ forces."