overseas

1. 1
   adjective

   Located in, coming from, or relating to a foreign country, especially one across the sea.

   The company plans to expand into several overseas markets next year.

   She spent two years on an overseas assignment in Singapore.

   Similarforeign, international

   Oppositedomestic

   Note

   The broad sense of the adjective comes from an earlier oversea with an -s added. Close relatives exist in Dutch overzees, German Übersee and Danish oversøisk. It cannot be graded, so nothing is more overseas than something else. Its everyday opposite is domestic, as in overseas and domestic markets. Transmarine means the same thing, and ultramarine once did, though that use is now archaic.

2. 2
   adverb

   In, to, or from a foreign country; abroad.

   After college, she moved overseas to teach English.

   The brand is far better known overseas than in its home market.

   Similarabroad

   Oppositedomestically, home

3. 3
   adverb

   Across a sea; to or toward an area on the other side of a sea.

   The factory ships most of its products overseas by container vessel.

   Troops were sent overseas during the war, crossing the Atlantic in crowded transports.

   Similarabroad

   Oppositedomestically

   Note

   The literal, sea-crossing adverb usually follows a verb of motion: travel, ship or send overseas. Paired with serve, it suggests duty abroad. R.E.M.'s "Orange Crush" (1988) leans on exactly that sense, in a line about answering one's conscience with service abroad. When the sea is not the point, the plain "abroad" adverb is the same word doing broader work.

4. 4
   adjective

   Situated across a sea, or involving travel or transport to or in an area across a sea.

   The airline added several overseas routes connecting the coast with European capitals.

   Centuries ago, overseas trade depended entirely on sailing ships.

   Similartransoceanic, maritime, seaborne, intercontinental

   Oppositedomestic, inland

5. 5
   adjective

   Of an ethnic, national, or religious group, living in a foreign country rather than the homeland associated with the group.

   Overseas Vietnamese communities have flourished in cities like Houston and Paris.

   The government created a new ministry to maintain ties with overseas Indians.

   Similarexpatriate

   Note

   Here the adjective attaches to a people rather than a place: overseas Chinese are Chinese living outside China. Which country counts as foreign depends on the speaker. When Stephen Curry wrote in 2016 of the UK becoming unfriendlier to overseas scholars and students, he meant people from abroad who were living in Britain. Context tells you whether the phrase looks out from the homeland or in from the host country.

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