What is the definition of an expatriate?

expatriate /ɛkˈspeɪtrijət/ Brit /ɛkˈspætriət/ noun

plural expatriates

plural expatriates

Britannica Dictionary definition of EXPATRIATE

[count]

: a person who lives in a foreign country

  • American expatriates living in Paris

— expatriate

adjective, always used before a noun

  • expatriate writers

You're an expat if you live in a country other than the one in which you were born and raised. Some expats are sent by their companies to work in foreign countries.

If your grandparents retire and buy a house in Mexico near the beach, they're expats. The word is a shortened form of expatriate, and it generally refers to anyone who has chosen to live away from their native home country, either temporarily or permanently. Expatriate comes from the Latin roots ex-, "away from," and patria, "one's native country." It first meant "one who is banished," and later "one who chooses to live abroad."

Definitions of expat

  1. noun

    a person who is voluntarily absent from home or country

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An expatriate is someone who lives in another country by choice. If you leave your split-level ranch in Ohio and move to a writers' commune in Paris for good, you've become an expatriate.

Expatriate can also be a verb, so that American in Paris has expatriated. There was a scene of expatriates, or expats, living in Paris in the roaring '20s that included writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. The word used to mean to get kicked out of your native country — it's from the French word expatrier which means "banish." The prefix ex means "out of" and the Latin patria "one's native country," but the word took a turn and now refers to people who left without getting shoved out.

Definitions of expatriate

  1. noun

    a person who is voluntarily absent from home or country

    “American expatriates

    synonyms: exile, expat

  2. verb

    expel from a country

  3. verb

    move away from one's native country and adopt a new residence abroad

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An expatriate is someone who has chosen to live and work in a country other than the one in which he or she legally resides. Most often, an expatriate is a citizen of a Western nation who has chosen to live in a non-Western country, such as one in South America, Asia, or Africa. Expatriates are often known simply as expats, and they often form their own communities in their new host countries. In areas popular with expatriates, such as parts of Africa and South-East Asia, there are often services such as hotels and cafes that cater specifically to the needs of the local expatriate community. In addition to salary, companies give their expatriate employees benefits such as relocation assistance, housing allowance company car, school fees, medical insurance, etc. Relationships between companies (mainly multinationals corporations) an their expatriate employees are governed through a Model of Expatriate Contract of Employment.

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[ verb eks-pey-tree-eyt or, especially British, -pa-tree-; adjective, noun eks-pey-tree-it, -eyt or, especially British, -pa-tree- ]

/ verb ɛksˈpeɪ triˌeɪt or, especially British, -ˈpæ tri-; adjective, noun ɛksˈpeɪ tri ɪt, -ˌeɪt or, especially British, -ˈpæ tri- /

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.


Definition of expatriate

verb (used with object), ex·pa·tri·at·ed, ex·pa·tri·at·ing.

to banish (a person) from his or her native country.

to withdraw (oneself) from residence in one's native country.

to withdraw (oneself) from allegiance to one's country.

verb (used without object), ex·pa·tri·at·ed, ex·pa·tri·at·ing.

to become an expatriate: He expatriated from his homeland.

adjective

noun

an expatriated person: Many American writers were living as expatriates in Paris.

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Origin of expatriate

1760–70; expatriātus (past participle of expatriāre to banish), equivalent to ex-ex-1 + patri(a) native land + -ātus-ate1

OTHER WORDS FROM expatriate

ex·pa·tri·a·tion, nounself-ex·pa·tri·a·tion, noun

Words nearby expatriate

expansively, expansivity, ex parte, expat, expatiate, expatriate, expatriation, expect, expectancy, expectant, expectation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

MORE ABOUT EXPATRIATE

What does expatriate mean?

An expatriate is a person who has moved from their native country to another country permanently or for an extended period of time.

The word expatriate can refer to people who have been forced to live in another country (such as due to having been exiled or banished), but it most commonly refers to people who have chosen to relocate to work in the new country or to retire there. Expatriates may or may not become citizens of the countries they move to, and they may or may not retain their original citizenship.

If the word expatriate sounds like it has just about the same meaning as the word immigrant, that’s because it does. But expatriate is used much more narrowly. It can imply (or is at least associated with) a certain amount of wealth and privilege—things not implied by or associated with the word immigrant. The word expatriate is especially applied to Westerners and used by them to refer to themselves. A common and informal short form is expat. The act or process of becoming an expatriate is called expatriation.

The word expatriate is commonly preceded by the person’s original nationality, as in an American expatriate in Paris. 

Expatriate can also be used as a verb meaning to withdraw one’s residence in or allegiance to their native country, or to banish a citizen. When expatriate is used as a verb, the last syllable is pronounced like ate [ eyt ].

Expatriate can also be used as an adjective describing a person who has become an expatriate or a person who has been exiled.

Example: The city has such a large community of British expatriates that there are multiple pubs that serve as popular social spots for them.

Where does expatriate come from?

The first records of the word expatriate come from the 1760s. It comes from the Latin expatriāre, meaning “to banish,” from ex-, “out of,” and patria, “native land.”

People referred to as expatriates may be in exile, but the word more commonly refers to those who have relocated for voluntary reasons, such as to work in the country or because they simply enjoy what it’s like to live there. Expatriates—who often call themselves expats—are known for forming communities in the countries where they move to with other expatriates from the same native country. Of course, many of these same things can be said about people called immigrants.

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How is expatriate used in real life?

The term expatriate is especially associated with Westerners. It’s commonly preceded with an adjective identifying the original nationality of the person.

American expatriates and political junkies crowded venues across Canada on Tuesday to watch the incoming results of the crucial U.S. midterm congressional elections #ElectionNight #Midterms2018https://t.co/8DquQDock8

— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) November 7, 2018

#Brexit leaves thousands of British expatriates in Switzerland in limbo https://t.co/b3dnHFoANq

— Pedro Nicolaci da Costa (@pdacosta) December 12, 2016

Bangladeshi expatriates in the US have remitted $343.5 million in July, the first month of the fiscal year, more than double the amount they sent a year earlier https://t.co/zqAVLpujnn

— Awami League (@albd1971) August 18, 2020

Try using expatriate!

True or False?

An expatriate is always someone who has renounced or has lost their citizenship in their native country.

emigrant, evacuee, exile, migrant, refugee, deportee, outcast, banish, deport, displace, expel, ostracize, oust, proscribe, relegate, transport, displaced person, émigré, expellee, expulse

How to use expatriate in a sentence

  • What I was experiencing, though I didn’t know it, was reverse culture shock, a situation in which expatriates returning to their home country struggle to readjust.

  • Lee Kyusung, a bar owner from Seoul in South Korea, said he saw less of his expatriate customers, who made up at least 40% of his usual crowd.

  • On a planet on the move, whether you’re slotted as a refugee, migrant, expatriate, or tourist, can mean, literally, the difference between life and death.

  • This incident was the reason that the UN ordered the withdrawal of its expatriate staff in Kandahar on March 23 1998 and suspended its humanitarian activities in the south of the country.

  • China secured Interpol red notices, which are alerts that a country has requested arrest and extradition, for expatriates around the world.

  • Yet for all his enthusiasm for the American film industry, he remained forever an expatriate.

  • Alex Aciman on two new memoirs of life in Greece and Italy and the tricks that expatriate life can play.

  • The stories of girls overseas have not often been part of the canon of American expatriate writing, Kaplan points out.

  • To this recently returned expatriate, the latter sounds rather like magical thinking.

  • The longtime expatriate who came to think of Indonesia as her home raised a steadfast American patriot.

  • I have no patience with those people who expatriate themselves.

  • But it would also have had the determination that he had failed to expatriate himself and that he was an American citizen.

  • Then he prevailed upon the clans to sign a truce and expatriate their chiefs for one year in distant States.

  • There remained the resource of travel, one of those journeys to countries so distant that they expatriate even the thoughts.

  • Was he supposed to wait patiently until she returned, or to expatriate himself in order to join her?

British Dictionary definitions for expatriate


adjective (ɛksˈpætrɪɪt, -ˌeɪt)

resident in a foreign country

exiled or banished from one's native countryan expatriate American

noun (ɛksˈpætrɪɪt, -ˌeɪt)

a person who lives in a foreign country

an exile; expatriate person

verb (ɛksˈpætrɪˌeɪt) (tr)

to exile (oneself) from one's native country or cause (another) to go into exile

to deprive (oneself or another) of citizenship

Derived forms of expatriate

expatriation, noun

Word Origin for expatriate

C18: from Medieval Latin expatriāre, from Latin ex- 1 + patria native land

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

What is the definition of an expatriate quizlet?

Expatriates are. employees who work outside their home country.

What is the difference between foreigner and expatriate?

An expat or expatriate is simply defined as a person who lives outside their native country. Similarly, an immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country. Only one distinction is made here – immigrants intend to stay in their new country indefinitely.

Is an expat still a US citizen?

Expatriation is the process of relinquishing U.S. status. It includes both U.S. Citizens, and Green Card Holders (aka Legal Permanent Resident) who meet the definition of a Long-Term Resident (LTR). The baseline perspective is that formal expatriation rules apply to: US Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents.

What are different types of expatriates?

Expatriate structures take different forms at different multinationals, but ultimately all business expats fit into or among four broad categories: foreign correspondent, secondee, temporary transferee/localized and co-/dual-/joint-employee.

What is the purpose of an expatriate?

Who uses Expatriate? Expatriate is used by human resources professionals to describe employees who are temporarily assigned to work in a foreign country. These workers may be sent by their company to work in a new office or to support a project in a foreign country.

What is an example of an expatriate?

One who has renounced one's native land. The definition of an expatriate is someone who has left his or her homeland. An example of a an expatriate is a Canadian who has moved from Canada to be married and employed in the United States.