as in foreign
being, relating to, or characteristic of a country other than one's own
nonnative customs that made the recent immigrants stand out in their new country
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in stranger
a person who is not native to or known to a community
the problems encountered by a nonnative after moving into a close-knit community
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of nonnative
Daily News, 7 Mar. 2026
At the same time, Utah is working to remove a nonnative reed called phragmites, which is growing on the lake surface and sucking down twice as much water as native plants.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 7 Mar. 2026
Many are native, but too many are nonnative and invasive.
—Carl R. Gold, Baltimore Sun, 7 Mar. 2026
Even on the reservation, Jason, Eastern Shoshone like his dad, and Patti, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, faced challenges to the idea from cattle ranchers both Native and nonnative.
—Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 5 Mar. 2026
Without fire, buckthorn, honeysuckle and other aggressive nonnative species will spread across habitats and shade out native plants, the website said.
—Addison Wright, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2026
If the fear is that foreigners are coming here to take our jobs and ruin beloved American traditions, there are plenty of nonnative artists to grouse about.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026
Typically, nonnative species are introduced to areas accidentally through cargo or escapes from captivity.
—Saleen Martin, USA Today, 28 Oct. 2025
The Erie Canal and its adjacent feeder rivers and reservoirs likely enabled two voracious nonnative species, the Atlantic sea lamprey and alewife, to enter the Great Lakes ecosystem.
—Christine Keiner, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
The Sepulveda Basin has seen numerous brush fires in recent years, with the most being the Burbank fire in August 2024, which blackened 75 acres of almost entirely invasive, nonnative plants.
—Daily News, 7 Mar. 2026
At the same time, Utah is working to remove a nonnative reed called phragmites, which is growing on the lake surface and sucking down twice as much water as native plants.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 7 Mar. 2026
Many are native, but too many are nonnative and invasive.
—Carl R. Gold, Baltimore Sun, 7 Mar. 2026
Even on the reservation, Jason, Eastern Shoshone like his dad, and Patti, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, faced challenges to the idea from cattle ranchers both Native and nonnative.
—Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 5 Mar. 2026
Without fire, buckthorn, honeysuckle and other aggressive nonnative species will spread across habitats and shade out native plants, the website said.
—Addison Wright, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2026
If the fear is that foreigners are coming here to take our jobs and ruin beloved American traditions, there are plenty of nonnative artists to grouse about.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026
Typically, nonnative species are introduced to areas accidentally through cargo or escapes from captivity.
—Saleen Martin, USA Today, 28 Oct. 2025
The Erie Canal and its adjacent feeder rivers and reservoirs likely enabled two voracious nonnative species, the Atlantic sea lamprey and alewife, to enter the Great Lakes ecosystem.
—Christine Keiner, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonnative
Adjective
-
Such a distinction had only ever applied to infrastructure firms, like Huawei or Kaspersky Labs, with ties to adversarial foreign governments, and there was no domestic precedent.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2026
-
Sticking with BCIs, companies like NMT are being pushed by China to help compete with potential foreign rivals like Neuralink or Synchron.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
His uncle was the mayor of their village and his family’s home was always open to strangers and travelers in need of a meal.—
Zareen Syed,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Mar. 2026
-
And in making that film, one of the things that was most striking was these conversations with complete strangers that became these very beautiful moments.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Were Fidel Castro’s efforts to free his people from the degrading influences of foreigners meant to be erased by a president who, instead of allowing Cuba to struggle with its problems, added to them by cutting its oil supply?—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
13 Mar. 2026
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Today’s China may have lost a lot of the graciousness once bestowed on foreigners, or at least Americans, generally speaking, but one country that has been consistently convivial over several decades for this guy is Japan.—
David Dickstein,
Oc Register,
11 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Article continues below Unfortunately, a passing asteroid deposits a killer alien robot in their midst, and the soldiers must fend for themselves as this marauding mech stalks them with guns and lasers blazing.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
10 Mar. 2026
-
More crucially, everything to do with the onboard alien is far too cute and formulaic.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
10 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nonnative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonnative. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026.
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