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

Traps dotting the station target the bird’s non-native predators—ferrets, stoats, rats. —Jeff Chu, Travel + Leisure, 12 Aug. 2025

Essentially forced into the tighter radius, non-native curved monitors can suffer from backlight bleed and a shorter life span. —Bestreviews, Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2025

Resilient by nature, native plants are often able to fend off disease and pest issues better than non-native ones. —Luke Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Aug. 2025

Official narrative minimizes moose presence The contemporary idea of moose as non-native animals reflects a different understanding than was common only a few decades ago. —John Wendt, The Conversation, 11 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