non-native

adjective

non-na·​tive ˌnän-ˈnā-tiv 

variants or nonnative

: not native: such as

a

of a plant or animal : living or growing in a place that is not the location of its natural occurrence

a non-native fish species

… overgrazing causes grasslands to give way to sagebrush, mesquite and non-native exotic grasses, environmentalists contend.

—Doug McInnis

b

: not born or raised in the place where a particular language is spoken

non-native inhabitants

a nonnative speaker of English [=a person who speaks English but whose native language is not English]

non-native noun

or nonnative

plural non-natives or nonnatives

popular among both natives and non-natives

Synonyms of non-native

• foreign

Examples of non-native in a Sentence

nonnative customs that made the recent immigrants stand out in their new country

Recent Examples on the Web

At the time, the property offered more promise than polish—a largely bare site bounded by agricultural land and a 158-acre public park, with only a sparse mix of non-native grasses and plants to soften the landscape. —Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar, Architectural Digest, 9 June 2026

Dry non-native grasses crowded the hillsides, a dangerous fuel. —Julie Orringer, Travel + Leisure, 9 June 2026

But native landscaping enthusiasts are trying to fight back against the invasion of non-native species. —Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 8 June 2026

More Flexibility As Hovis points out, adding native plants to your garden isn’t about nixing non-native plants entirely. —Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 6 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1845, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for non-native

• creative
• locative
• nonnative
• probative
• rotative
• accommodative
• accumulative
• adjudicative
• administrative
• affiliative
• agglutinative
• ameliorative