export

Formsexports, exporting, exported

Pluralexports

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To sell goods to buyers in a foreign country.

   Local wineries hope to export their vintages to Asian markets next year.

   The company exports heavy machinery to clients on three continents.

   Similarsell, ship

   Oppositeimport

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An item, such as a good or commodity, that is sent and sold to a foreign country.

   Timber was once the region's leading export.

   Electronics now make up a growing share of the nation's exports.

   Oppositeimport

   Note

   Here the word counts things: an export, the main export, a country's exports. That countable use is the easiest way to tell it from the act of exporting, which takes no plural and usually comes with of, as in the export of fish. Oil is Saudi Arabia's main export names a product; the export of oil names a trade.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of sending or selling goods to another country.

   The export of raw materials dominates the regional economy.

   Strict licensing slowed the export of military equipment during the embargo.

   Similarexportation, shipment

   Oppositeimport, importation

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   In computing, to transfer data out of one program so that another program can use it.

   Export the chart data to a spreadsheet before sharing it with the team.

   The accounting software exports invoices in several common file formats.

   Similaroutput, transfer, save

   Oppositeimport

   Note

   A computing verb with a fixed partner: what one program exports, another imports. Data is exported to a destination, such as a spreadsheet or a file, and often in a particular format so the receiving program can read it. The writing-out is the point. The data leaves an application's own internal form and becomes something another program can open.

5. 5
   adjective

   Of or relating to exportation or to goods sold abroad.

   Export demand for semiconductors surged in the second quarter.

   The ministry tightened export rules for sensitive technology.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To make something spread elsewhere in the world.

   Reformers hoped to export their model of public education to countries across the region.

   Missionaries exported European customs along with their religion.

   Similarspread, transmit, introduce, disseminate

   Oppositeimport

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To carry or convey something away from a place.

   Glaciers export rock and gravel from the mountains as they slowly move downhill.

   The flood exported tons of topsoil from the fields overnight.

   Similarremove

   Note

   The literal use, nearest to Latin exportare, with no border, buyer or market in view. Remove is its closest synonym. Francis Bacon's essay "Of Followers and Friends" (1625) already gives it a commercial edge: hangers-on take a man's honor away and pay him back in envy. That is a picture of goods sent out and a return received, the trade image behind the selling sense.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To put a child up for adoption by a family in another country.

   The scandal pushed lawmakers to ban groups that export children for profit.

   Critics accused the agency of exporting infants to wealthy couples overseas.

Showing meanings only. Show all 8