exterior

English

Alternative forms

• exteriour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin exterior.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈstɪəɹɪə/, /ɛkˈstɪəɹɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈstɪɹiɚ/, /ɛkˈstɪɹiɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹiə(ɹ)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

exterior (not comparable)

1. Relating to the outside parts or surface of something.

   the exterior part of a sphere

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man / Resemble that it was.

2. Being from outside a country; foreign.

   the exterior relations of a state or kingdom

3. Outdoor.

Antonyms

• interior

Derived terms

• exterior angle
• exterior derivative
• exteriority
• exteriorize, exteriorise
• exteriorly
• exterior product

 

Translations

relating to the outside parts or surface

• Belarusian: во́нкавы (vónkavy), знадво́рны (znadvórny)
• Bulgarian: въ́ншен (bg) (vǎ́nšen)
• Catalan: exterior (ca)
• Czech: vnější (cs)
• French: extérieur (fr)
• Galician: exterior (gl)
• Georgian: გარე მხარე (gare mxare), გარეთა მხარე (gareta mxare), ექსტერიერი (eksṭerieri), გარეგანი მხარე (garegani mxare)
• German: Außen-
• Hungarian: külső (hu)
• Irish: seachtrach
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: надворешен (nadvorešen)
• Maori: mōwaho
• Ottoman Turkish: ظاهر (zahir)
• Persian: بیرون (fa) (birun), خارج (fa) (xârej)
• Polish: zewnętrzny (pl)
• Portuguese: exterior (pt)
• Russian: вне́шний (ru) (vnéšnij), нару́жный (ru) (narúžnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ва̀њскӣ (Croatia), спо̀љашњӣ

  Roman: vànjskī (sh) (Croatia), spòljašnjī

• Slovak: vonkajší
• Slovene: zunanji
• Spanish: exterior (es)
• Swedish: yttre (sv)
• Ukrainian: зо́внішній (zóvnišnij), надві́рній (nadvírnij)
• Welsh: allanol (cy)

being from outside a country — see foreign

external — see external

outer — see outer

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: uitwendig (nl) (1), buitenlands (nl) (2)
• Interlingua: exterior

Noun

exterior (plural exteriors)

1. The outside part, parts or surface of something.

   The sticker was attached to the exterior of the package

   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 31:

     Before dissecting a shark to see how it manages to function so effectively, let us first examine its exterior.

   • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)‎^[1]:

     [I]n the 575 days since [Oscar] Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, there has been an unseemly scramble to construct revisionist histories, to identify evidence beneath that placid exterior of a pugnacious, hair-trigger personality.

   Antonyms: inside, interior

2. Foreign lands.

   She is our new minister of the exterior

   Antonym: interior

Translations

The outside part

• Bulgarian: външност (bg) f (vǎnšnost)
• Galician: exterior (gl) m
• German: Äußeres (de) n, Außenseite (de) f
• Greek: εξωτερικό (el) n (exoterikó)
• Hungarian: külső (hu)
• Russian: экстерье́р (ru) m (ekstɛrʹjér), нару́жная часть f (narúžnaja častʹ), вне́шняя часть f (vnéšnjaja častʹ), внешность (ru) (vnešnostʹ), наружность (ru) (naružnostʹ)
• Sanskrit: प्रतीक (sa) n (pratīka)
• Spanish: exterior (es) m
• Swedish: utsida (sv) c, exteriör (sv)

Foreign lands

• Turkish: hariciye (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: buitenland (nl) n (2)
• Ido: exterajo (io)
• Interlingua: exterior

See also

• external

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exteriōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [əks.tə.ɾiˈor]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əks.tə.ɾiˈo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [eks.te.ɾiˈoɾ]

Adjective

exterior m or f (masculine and feminine plural exteriors)

1. exterior (relating to the outside parts or surface of something)

   Antonym: interior

2. exterior, foreign

   Synonym: estranger

   Antonym: interior

Derived terms

• exterioritat
• exterioritzar
• exteriorment

 

Noun

exterior m (plural exteriors)

1. exterior (the outside part, parts or surface of something)

   Antonym: interior

2. the exterior (foreign lands)

   Synonym: estranger

   Antonym: interior

Noun

exterior m or f by sense (plural exteriors)

1. (baseball) outfielder

   Hypernym: campista

   Coordinate term: interior

Further reading

• “exterior” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “exterior”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “exterior” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “exterior” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “exterior” in termcat, Centre de Terminologia, 2024.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ekˈste.ri.or/, [ɛkˈs̠t̪ɛriɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ekˈste.ri.or/, [ekˈst̪ɛːrior]

Adjective

exterior (comparative, neuter exterius); third declension

1. comparative degree of exter; outward, outer, exterior

Declension

Third-declension comparative adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	exterior	exterius		exteriōrēs	exteriōra
genitive	exteriōris			exteriōrum
dative	exteriōrī			exteriōribus
accusative	exteriōrem	exterius		exteriōrēs exteriōrīs	exteriōra
ablative	exteriōre exteriōrī			exteriōribus
vocative	exterior	exterius		exteriōrēs	exteriōra

Descendants

• Catalan: exterior
• English: exterior
• French: extérieur
• Friulian: esteriôr
• Galician: exterior
• Italian: esteriore
• Piedmontese: esterior
• Portuguese: exterior
• Romanian: exterior
• Sicilian: stiriuri
• Spanish: exterior

References

• “exterior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “exterior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• exterior in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• exterior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exterior.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /is.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [is.te.ɾɪˈoh], (faster pronunciation) /is.teˈɾjoʁ/ [is.teˈɾjoh], /es.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [es.te.ɾɪˈoh], (faster pronunciation) /es.teˈɾjoʁ/ [es.teˈɾjoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /is.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [is.te.ɾɪˈoh], (faster pronunciation) /is.teˈɾjoʁ/ [is.teˈɾjoh], /es.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [es.te.ɾɪˈoh], (faster pronunciation) /es.teˈɾjoʁ/ [es.teˈɾjoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /is.te.ɾiˈoɾ/ [is.te.ɾɪˈoɾ], (faster pronunciation) /is.teˈɾjoɾ/, /es.te.ɾiˈoɾ/ [es.te.ɾɪˈoɾ], (faster pronunciation) /es.teˈɾjoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /iʃ.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [iʃ.te.ɾɪˈoχ], (faster pronunciation) /iʃ.teˈɾjoʁ/ [iʃ.teˈɾjoχ], /eʃ.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [eʃ.te.ɾɪˈoχ], (faster pronunciation) /eʃ.teˈɾjoʁ/ [eʃ.teˈɾjoχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /es.te.ɾiˈoɻ/ [es.te.ɾɪˈoɻ], (faster pronunciation) /es.teˈɾjoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/, /ɐjʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/, /ɐjʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/, /ejʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/, /ejʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʃ.tɨˈɾjo.ɾi/, /eʃ.tɨˈɾjo.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: ex‧te‧ri‧or

Adjective

exterior m or f (plural exteriores)

1. exterior (located in the outside)

   Antonym: interior

   A parte exterior do carro.

   The outside of the car.

2. foreign (relating to foreign countries)

   Qual é a política exterior do Brazil?

   What is Brazil’s foreign policy?

3. (formal) outwith; not encompassed by; not related to or covered by

   Este conteúdo é exterior à ementa deste curso.

   This topic is outwith the syllabus of this course.

Derived terms

• exteriormente

Related terms

• exterioridade

Noun

exterior m (plural exteriores)

1. outside (outer surface)

   Antonym: interior

   Contratamos um pintor para pintar apenas o exterior da casa, o interior pintaremos nós mesmo.

   We hired a painter to paint the outside of the house; we will paint the inside ourselves.

2. outside (the space beyond some limit or boundary)

   Não deixe nada no exterior deste círculo.

   Don’t leave anything outside this circle.

Noun

exterior m (uncountable)

1. exterior; territory of foreign countries

   Synonym: estrangeiro

   Ela mora no exterior desde criança.

   She has lived abroad since she was a child.

Further reading

• “exterior”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French extérieur and Latin exterior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌeks.te.riˈor/

Noun

exterior n (plural exterioare)

1. exterior

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	exterior	exteriorul		exterioare	exterioarele
genitive-dative	exterior	exteriorului		exterioare	exterioarelor
vocative	exteriorule			exterioarelor

Adjective

exterior m or n (feminine singular exterioară, masculine plural exteriori, feminine and neuter plural exterioare)

1. external, outer

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	exterior		exterioară		exteriori	exterioare
	definite	exteriorul		exterioara		exteriorii	exterioarele
genitive- dative	indefinite	exterior		exterioare		exteriori	exterioare
	definite	exteriorului		exterioarei		exteriorilor	exterioarelor

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin exterior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɡsteˈɾjoɾ/ [eɣ̞s.t̪eˈɾjoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ex‧te‧rior

Adjective

exterior m or f (masculine and feminine plural exteriores)

1. external, outer

   Antonym: interior

Noun

exterior m (plural exteriores)

1. outside

   Antonym: interior

2. abroad

Derived terms

• al exterior
• asuntos exteriores
• espacio exterior
• exteriorizar
• exteriormente

 

Related terms

• externo

 

Further reading

• “exterior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10