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

• alien
• 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 clock is ticking, however, as the bone collector is extremely rare and in danger of extinction, due to the large number of invasive species—especially non-native ants and parasitic wasps—that have found their way to Hawaii. —ArsTechnica, 24 Apr. 2025

Samantha West, sustainability and resilience manager for Volusia County, will share tips on protecting waterways and provide a live demonstration of various arrangements of native, non-native, and invasive plant species. —Joe Rassel, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 Apr. 2025

But any large-scale intervention — especially one involving tens of millions of non-native birds — will have knock-on effects. —John Drake, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025

In many areas of Southern California the non-native palms are considered invasive and are being removed to restore native habitat. —Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 13 Apr. 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