native — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Belonging to one by birth or ancestry.

   Examples

   This is my native land.

   English is not my native language.

   More examples (11)

   I need a volunteer native New Yorker for my next joke…

   In my natyf language I wyl not opres, / More of her werke, for it is obscure; / Who wyl therof knowe all the perfeytnes / In phylosophy he shall fynde it ryght sure, / Whyche all the trouth can to hym discure.

   The Language I haue learn’d these forty yeares (My natiue English) now I must forgo.

   Thy sentence…robs my tongue from breathing natiue breath.

   They have a native language of their owne, but the Persian tongue is understood by most.

   Happy the man, whose wish and care / A few paternal acres bound, / Content to breathe his native air / In his own ground.

   Those of the western church were obliged to acquire some knowledge of Latin; and for Greek, to those of the eastern church it was still (with a few corruptions) their native language.

   […] But to the Snake those accents sweet were known / His native tongue and hers; […]

   Their habits, as we can see them transacted, are native.

   His name has been metamorphosed in Syria and Egypt into the more native-sounding Abulides.

   They were dressed in their native costumes.

2. Characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from prehistoric times.

   Examples

   Many native artists studied abroad.

   Native peoples in the continental United States are called Native Americans or American Indians.

3. Born or grown in the region in which it lives or is found; not foreign or imported.

   Examples

   native oysters or strawberries

   Clover is not native to the Americas, but it is firmly established there.

4. Which occurs of its own accord in a given locality, to be contrasted with a species introduced by humans.

   Usage

   • of a species

   Examples

   The naturalized Norway maple often outcompetes the native North American sugar maple.

5. Pertaining to the system or architecture in question.

   Usage

   • of software

   Examples

   This is a native back-end to gather the latest news feeds.

   The native integer size is sixteen bits.

   More examples (1)

   cloud native, crypto native

6. Occurring naturally in its pure or uncombined form.

   Examples

   native aluminium

   native salt

7. Arising by birth; having an origin; born.

   Examples

   Anaximander's opinion is, that the gods are native, rising and vanishing again in long periods of times.

8. Original; constituting the original substance of anything.

   Examples

   native dust

   Must I thus leave thee Paradise? thus leave Thee Native Soile, these happie Walks and Shades, Fit haunt of Gods?

9. Naturally related; cognate; connected (with).

   Examples

   The head is not more native to the heart, […] Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.

Noun

1. A person who is native to a place; a person who was born in a place.

2. A person of aboriginal descent, as distinguished from a person who was or whose ancestors were foreigners or settlers/colonizers. Alternative letter-case form of Native (aboriginal inhabitant of the Americas or Australia).

   Usage

   • in particular

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   Mail trains are limited to first and second class passengers, but on the mixed trains third class is also provided, and this is patronised exclusively by natives.

   Dr John Reid, a historian called to testify for Mr Marshall, distinguished between the fur trade at the truckhouses and a smaller scale trade between natives and settlers: "It seems that there were native persons who were selling small amounts […]"

   As for the wars between natives and settlers, far from having “ceased,” they would continue well into the twentieth century, and over much the same things that had always sparked them—trade, land, and settler arrogance.

3. A native speaker.

4. A native plant or animal.

   Antonyms

   exotic

5. An oyster of species Ostrea edulis.

Adjective

1. characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin

   Antonyms

   foreign

   Examples

   the native North American sugar maple

   many native artists studied abroad

2. belonging to one by birth

   Antonyms

   adopted

   Examples

   my native land

   one's native language

3. characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning

   Synonyms

   aboriginal

   Antonyms

   nonnative

   Examples

   native Americans

   the aboriginal peoples of Australia

4. as found in nature in the elemental form

   Examples

   native copper

Noun

1. an indigenous person who was born in a particular place

   Synonyms

   indigenindigeneaborigineaboriginal

   Broader terms

   actordoerworker

   Examples

   the art of the natives of the northwest coast

   the Canadian government scrapped plans to tax the grants to aboriginal college students

2. a person born in a particular place or country

   Broader terms

   actordoerworker

   Examples

   he is a native of Brazil

3. indigenous plants and animals

   Broader terms

   organismbeing