Oversea or overseas?
oversea is an adjective meaning “Alternative form of overseas”; overseas is an adjective meaning “Abroad, especially across the sea”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) overseas is about 95 times as common as oversea.
What is the difference between oversea and overseas?
| oversea | overseas | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, adverb | adjective, adverb |
| Meaning | UKAlternative form of overseas | Abroad, especially across the sea Used with ethnicities, nationalities, or religious affiliations: living (being resident) in a foreign country Abroad |
| Example | none recorded | Overseas branches of the company are doing well |
| Pronunciation | /ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/ [ˌəʊ̯.vəˈsiː] /ˌoʊ.vɚˈsi/ | /ˌəʊvəˈsiːz/ /ˌoʊvɚˈsiːz/ |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words | 19 times per million words |
Sources: oversea and overseas in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of oversea and overseas
oversea
- 1
UKAlternative form of overseas
- 2
UKAlternative form of overseas
overseas
- 1
Abroad, especially across the sea
Overseas branches of the company are doing well
- 2
Abroad
He emigrated and now lives overseas
- 3
Used with ethnicities, nationalities, or religious affiliations: living (being resident) in a foreign country
Overseas Chinese communities exist in North and South America
- 4
Across a sea; to an area across a sea
She travelled overseas
- 5
Across a sea; to or in an area across a sea
Her overseas trip went well
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, oversea or overseas?
oversea appears about once in every 5 million words; overseas 19 times per million words.
oversea about once in every 5 million wordsoverseas 19 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).