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 fish is believed to have been released from an aquarium, highlighting the potential risks of introducing non-native species into the wild. —Real-Time News Team, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2025

Both native and non-native trees are considered. —Jennie Key, The Enquirer, 31 Aug. 2025

Regional accents, slang and non-native pronunciations are underrepresented in the literature. —Ahmed Elshireef, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025

Also, native plants require less water, fertilizer, and general care than non-natives. —Steve Bender, Southern Living, 27 Aug. 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