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

House Gecko Most commonly spotted inside a home, the house gecko is one of a handful of non-native geckos that have fanned out across Florida over the last century. — Alex Harris august 25, Miami Herald, 25 Aug. 2026

Branly Cadet will research, design, and sculpt a bronze statue of du Sable, Chicago's first permanent non-native settler. — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 24 Aug. 2026

Without regular weeding, native plants can become overgrown and choked by the same non-native weeds that grow everywhere else. — Beth Botts, Chicago Tribune, 23 Aug. 2026

Tribal community members from across California are gathering this weekend on the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians’ land for an annual summer celebration, in which non-native folks are invited to join in. — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 23 Aug. 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
• affiliative
• agglutinative
• ameliorative