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

• 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

The Florida park is home to a healthy population of feral, non-native rhesus macaques. —Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 24 Oct. 2025

White Settlement Road, which was paved in the 1950s, has long served as a connection between downtown Fort Worth to the historic location of one of the first settlements of non-native inhabitants in west Tarrant County. —Harrison Mantas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Oct. 2025

The intent is to reduce the population of the non-native mute swan, a large, voracious and territorial bird that competes for resources with native waterfowl and other wetland species. —Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025

Aquatic nuisance species are non-native plants and animals that can cause ecological or economic harm, or even harm to human health if introduced to a body of water. —Arkansas Online, 21 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1845, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for non-native

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