NATIVIST Synonyms: 23 Similar and Opposite Words

nativist 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of nativist next

as in nativistic

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internationalist

nativist

2 of 2

noun

as in nationalist

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of nativist

Adjective

Driven by the same nativist and xenophobic ideas, the United States adopted the Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924, which ended mass immigration by introducing national-origin quotas designed to favor Northern and Western Europeans and exclude nonwhite immigrants almost entirely. —

M. Gessen, Mercury News, 11 June 2026 Was this restrictive definition not akin to the nativist rhetoric coming from the right? —

Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 10 June 2026 But Matter scoffed at the idea that the initiative has nativist undertones. —

Jessi Jezewska Stevens, New Yorker, 8 June 2026 Today, not only are these conditions under assault by a kleptocratic, nativist US federal government, but the clock seems also to be running out on their own internal contradictions. —

Katy Siegel, Artforum, 2 June 2026 At the end of the day, all Calvert and Kim are doing is pandering to the nativist base of their party in hopes of getting another two years over in the Swamp. —

Sal Rodriguez, Oc Register, 15 Apr. 2026 Eventually, that nativist turn would take America into a series of constitutional crises and to the edge of some American version of fascism. —

Literary Hub, 8 Apr. 2026 At the latter stages of the transition, aging richer countries now require workers from overseas – but are coming up against a nativist backlash. —

John Rennie Short, The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2026 In 1942, as the government was forcibly relocating and incarcerating Japanese Americans on the West Coast, a nativist group hoped to revoke the citizenship of Japanese Americans born in the United States. —

Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 28 Mar. 2026

Noun

This undiplomatic tirade went over well in the White House, but marked him as a belligerent nativist abroad and something of an isolationist at home. —

Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nativist

Adjective

The demonstrations follow weeks of violent xenophobic attacks and growing pressure on businesses to hire only South Africans.

— Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 18 June 2026
The xenophobic law meant that Yiddish-speaking Jews and Italians seeking to vote could be required to recite and write passages from the state Constitution, regardless of their level of education in their native tongues or whether their conduct as new Americans was exemplary.

— Robert Polner, New York Daily News, 13 June 2026