international

international — adjective

1. involving people from at least two different countries.

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

involving people from at least two different countries.

Example

The international airport in Seoul handles flights from over 80 countries.

collocation: international airport

Yael's company signed an international trade agreement with suppliers in Vietnam.

collocation: international trade agreement

Common collocations
  • international community
  • international law
  • international trade
  • international relations
  • international organization
  • international market
  • international students
Synonyms
  • global

    stronger implication of worldwide reach; 'global warming' not 'international warming'

  • multinational

    specifically describes companies or organizations operating in multiple countries

  • transnational

    more academic; implies activities that cut across borders rather than between nations

  • worldwide

    emphasizes coverage of the entire world rather than relations between nations

Antonyms
  • national

    limited to a single country

  • domestic

    relating to internal affairs of one country

  • local

    limited to a small area within one country

Grammar Patterns

international + noun

be + international

Usage Note

Attributive use (before a noun) is far more common than predicative use. Typical noun collocates include trade, law, relations, community, organization, and market.

Common Mistakes

My company does a lot of national business.
My company does a lot of international business.
'national' means within one country; 'international' means across countries.
She works for an international.
She works for an international company.
As an adjective, 'international' needs to modify a noun; it cannot stand alone as a noun in this meaning.

international — noun

Word family

  • internationalize
    verbC1
  • internationally
    adverbB2
  • internationalism
    nounC1
  • internationalist
    nounC1
  • internationalization
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

International, global, multinational, transnational, and worldwide all relate to activities that cross borders, but their scope and typical contexts differ. International is the most neutral and widely used term, emphasizing relationships between nations — it is the default choice for affairs such as trade, law, and diplomacy. Global suggests coverage or impact that reaches across the entire planet, and is preferred for issues that affect all regions equally (global warming, global economy). Multinational specifically describes companies or organizations with operations in multiple countries (multinational corporation, multinational team). Transnational is more academic and implies networks or activities that cut across national boundaries rather than going between them, often used in politics and criminology (transnational crime, transnational cooperation). Worldwide is the most concrete and intuitive term, simply meaning 'in every part of the world' (worldwide sales, a worldwide reputation). For everyday cross-border situations, international is the safest choice; for describing planet-wide phenomena, choose global.

global ↗multinational ↗transnationalworldwide ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • international community
  • international law
  • international trade
  • international relations
  • international organization
  • international airport
  • international market
  • international students
  • international standards

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Formed in English around 1780 by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who combined the Latin prefix 'inter-' (meaning 'between' or 'among') with 'national' (from Latin 'natio', meaning 'nation' or 'people'). Bentham needed a word to describe law that governs relations between nations, and the term quickly spread beyond legal contexts into general use.