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

This wildflower prefers high-quality, mature woods where non-native buckthorns are few or absent. —Sheryl De Vore, Chicago Tribune, 31 Mar. 2026

In the Bay Area, our most common — and non-native — snail is the European brown snail. —Joan Morris, Mercury News, 30 Mar. 2026

The population is still threatened by urbanization, insecticides and non-native fire ants that feast on the eggs and babies. —Matt Leclercq, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 Mar. 2026

Those non-native plants, which include heirloom fruit trees like peaches, plums and apricots, have started feeling the impacts of a warmer and drier climate, according to Cowen. —John Leos, AZCentral.com, 29 Mar. 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