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

Both co-written by Hirst, whose driving drums propelled them, the songs spotlighted Indigenous issues to non-native audiences. —Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 20 Jan. 2026

The kākāpō population began to struggle after large waves of human settlement arrived in New Zealand and non-native predators like cats and rats were introduced. —Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 16 Jan. 2026

Florida’s non-native tropical lizards mark a rare real-world example. —Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 16 Jan. 2026

On the other end of the spectrum are our urban and rural districts which have a substantially lower tax base and a larger number of underprivileged and non-native English Language speakers. —Michael Maguire, Boston Herald, 4 Jan. 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
• agglutinative
• ameliorative
• appreciative