Non-native

adj, noun

adj, noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who is not native.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Not native; not indigenous to a particular area; foreign; invasive. not-comparable

    "Use purple three-awn grass to replace the overused, invasive non-native weedy Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima)."

Synonyms

All synonyms
alienigenateoutlandish

Example

More examples

"A child who is a native speaker usually knows many things about his or her language that a non-native speaker who has been studying for years still does not know and perhaps will never know."

Etymology

From non- + native.

Related phrases

non-native speakernon-native species

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.