external

adj

1. Outside of something; on the exterior.

   “This building has some external pipework.”

   “Her virtues graced with external gifts.”

   “Of all external things, […] / She [Fancy] forms imaginations, aery shapes.”

2. Outside of something; on the exterior.
3. (relational)Outside of something; on the exterior.
4. Capable of being perceived outwardly.
5. Capable of being perceived outwardly.

   “The external circumstances are greatly different.”

6. Provided by something or someone outside of the entity (object, group, company etc.) considered.

   “external authority, external force”

7. Relating to or connected with foreign nations or institutions.

   “external trade or commerce; the external relations of a state or kingdom”

8. Having existence independent of the mind.

   “external reality”

9. For or concerning students registered with and taking the examinations of a university but not resident there.

   “external degrees”

10. Not contained in the main computer.
11. Using a disk or tape drive rather than the main memory.

noun

1. (plural-normally)The exterior; outward features or appearances.

   “To a non-Christian who has never experienced but only observed the externals of Christianity, it appears to be merely another spiritual system, but to a person who has left one of the other religions and embraced the Christian faith, it is most definitely The Way, and all else pales to insignificance.”

2. (plural-normally)The exterior; outward features or appearances.

   “They had been such declared, such personal enemies, that, even in a court, it seemed wonderful how a decent external could be given to their reconciliation.”

   “He was indeed a creature who by externals at all events had more in common with another genus than with that humanity among which fate had cast him, and his familiar nickname of "The Toad" crudely indicated what that species might be.”

3. A variable that is defined in the source code but whose value comes from some external source.