Meaning & use
abroad
Last updated
Meanings
adverbnot comparable
In or to a country other than one's own.
Grammar: Usually follows verbs such as go, live, study, or be: study abroad; avoid abroad in a foreign country.
Patterns
- be abroad
- go abroad
- travel abroad
- from abroad
She wants to study abroad next year.
My cousin is working abroad for six months.
Many families returned home from abroad during the storm.
adverbnot comparableliteraryold-fashioned
Present or circulating among people, used especially of rumors, feelings, or ideas in older literary English.
Grammar: Mostly fixed phrases such as rumours abroad or fear was abroad; modern everyday use favors the travel sense.
Patterns
- rumours abroad
- something is abroad
- fear was abroad
Rumours of change were abroad in the capital.
A strange unease was abroad after the announcement.
Common combinations
- study abroad
- He hopes to study abroad in Canada.
- live abroad
- They lived abroad for several years.
- go abroad
- We plan to go abroad during the summer break.
- from abroad
- The university welcomes students from abroad.
- at home and abroad
- The policy affects citizens at home and abroad.
Synonyms and how they differ
- overseas
- Often means the same as abroad, but can suggest travel across the sea and is very common in American English.
- out of the country
- A plain phrase that can fit many contexts, though it is less compact and less idiomatic than abroad.
Opposites
Commonly confused: abroad or aboard? abroad or broad?
abroad vs aboard
Aboard means on or into a ship, train, or plane; abroad means in or to another country.
abroad vs broad
Broad means wide; abroad adds the sense of being away in a foreign country.
Practice
After college, she spent a year ___ teaching English.
Choose one answer.
Abroad means in another country, which fits teaching English overseas. Aboard means on a vehicle; domestically is the opposite idea.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “abroad”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.