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

Language is unusual: Because scammers may be non-native English speakers, poor grammar or unusual language can also be a tip-off of someone taking on a fake identity. —Rachel Hale, USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2025

The number of replacement trees would depend on whether the property owner picks a native or a non-native tree as a replacement, and where the property owner proposes to plant the new trees. —Barbara Henry, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Feb. 2025

The house mouse is a non-native mouse species that lives on all seven continents. —Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 20 Feb. 2025

The problem is that any successful non-native species will attempt to muscle out a native species that already fills the same niche. —Alan Clemons, Outdoor Life, 20 Feb. 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