Look up international in Wiktionary the free dictionary. For other uses see International (disambiguation).

Something (a company language or organization) international mostly means that it involves more than one nation (country). The term international as a word means involvement of interaction between or encompassing more than one nation or generally beyond national boundaries. For example international law which is applied by more than one country over the world and international language which is a language spoken by residents of more than one country.

In American English "International" is also commonly used as a euphemism for "foreign" or even "foreigner."12 Contents 1 Meaning in particular fields 2 See also 3 References 4 Sources Meaning in particular fields In team sports "international" commonly refers either to a match between two national teams or to a player capped by his national team. In politics "The International" may refer to a political international. In linguistics an "international language" is one spoken by the people of at least two nations but preferably a large number of nations. Also called world language. Such as: English Spanish French and Arabic.3 In interlinguistics international often has to do with languages rather than nations themselves. An "international word" is one that occurs in at least two languages but preferable many more as with linguistics above. These words are collected from widely spoken source or control languages and often used to establish language systems that people can use to communicate internationally and sometimes for other purposes such as to learn other languages more quickly. The vocabulary of Interlingua has a particularly wide range because the control languages of Interlingua were selected to give its words and affixes their maximum geographic scope.4 In part the language Ido is also a product of interlinguistic research. In North American unionised environments the term "international" is a euphemism for the central union location which is often in the Washington D.C. area. An example is the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) whose international office is in Washington DC whereas its local offices are spread all over North America. A regional union office that serves as an umbrella organisation for more than one local office may still be called "international" by its rank and file members.

The term "global" is commonly used as a synonym for "international" however such usage is typically incorrect as "global" implies "one world" as a single unit while "international" recognizes that different peoples cultures languages nations borders economies and ecosystems exist. The word nonetheless sees usage as in various media buzzwords such as "the global economy". See also Globalization Multinational Corporation Multinational State Supranational United Nations World community References Columbia Guide to Standard American English Columbia Guide to Standard American English Language Map Gode Alexander Interlingua: A Grammar of the International Language. New York: Frederick Ungar 1951. Meaning of international on The Free Dictionary Meaning of international on Cambridge dictionary. Sources Ankerl Guy. Global communication without universal civilization. INU societal research. Vol.1: Coexisting contemporary civilizations : Arabo-Muslim Bharati Chinese and Western. Geneva: INU Press. ISBN 2-88155-004-5.