Meanings
alternative nonnative
- not comparableNot native; not indigenous to a particular area; foreign; invasive.
Use purple three-awn grass to replace the overused, invasive non-native weedy Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima).
2016, Greg Rubin, Lucy Warren, The Drought-Defying California Garden, Portland: Timber Press, published 2021, →ISBN, page 1351 more example
The economy is at full employment and the state is flush with tax revenue but their social media feeds depict a country overrun with “non-native” predators such as Jozef Puska, a Slovak man convicted earlier this month of murdering a teacher, Ashling Murphy, in 2022.
2023 November 24, Rory Carroll, “‘Government is not listening’: anger over immigration spills into riot on Dublin’s streets”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
plural non-natives · alternative nonnative
- A person who is not native.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Germanic*ne
- Proto-Indo-European*ís?
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
- Proto-Germanic*ainaz
- Proto-Germanic*nainaz
- Proto-West Germanic*nain
- Old Englishnān
- Middle Englishnon
- Old Englishnān
- Old Englishnān-
- Middle Englishnon-
- Englishnon-
- Englishnative
- Englishnon-native
Translations
Finnish ei-syntyperäinen, muukalainen
- ei-syntyperäinennot indigenous
- muukalainennot indigenous
German nichteinheimisch
- nichteinheimischnot indigenous
Japanese 非ネイティブ
- 非ネイティブ (hineitibu)not indigenous
Polish nierodzimy
- nierodzimynot indigenous
Russian неме́стный
- неме́стный (neméstnyj)not indigenous
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with non-native
Cite this entry
non-native. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-native
“non-native.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-native. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “non-native,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-native.
Source: non-native on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.