External means outside, outer, exterior, located on or beyond outside of something, occurring outside, or coming from outside, opposite of internal which means inside. As adjective, external means situated outside, outer surface, outer area, or outside system. For example, external walls are outer walls of building that face outside, external appearance is outward look, external features are features on outside, external hard drive is drive outside computer, external factors are factors coming from outside environment, not inside. In business, external means outside company, as external consultant is consultant not employed by company, external audit is audit by outside firm. In medicine, external means on outside of body, as external wound is wound on skin, external medicine is applied on outside. In personal context, external validation means validation from other people outside yourself, not internal self-validation. External can also mean extrinsic, exogenous, or outside influence. So external means outer, outside, exterior, outward, extrinsic, as in external environment means environment outside, external cause means cause from outside. Opposite is internal meaning inside, inner. So external essentially means not inside, located or coming from outside.
1 votes
Marked as accepted