native
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Born or grown in the region in which it lives or is found.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
naytivSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈneɪtɪv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Born or grown in the region in which it lives or is found; not foreign or imported.
Belonging to one by birth
Characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning
uscanada
Indian: Native American or First Nation; of or relating to (North) American Indians.
Arising by birth; having an origin; born.
Naturally related; cognate; connected (with).
noun
An indigenous person who was born in a particular place
“The art of the natives of the northwest coast.”
in particular
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).
AustraliaNew Zealand
An Aborigine.
An aboriginal inhabitant of a colonized region, especially one colonized by English-speaking people.
A native speaker.
uscanada
A Native American.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An indigenous person who was born in a particular place
Used this way, native is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The art of the natives of the northwest coast.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “native of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: native of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use native
- “The native North American sugar maple.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A member or descendant of any of the aboriginal peoples of Alaska.
Any member of the peoples living in North or South America before the Europeans arrived.
A member of the people living in Australia when Europeans arrived.
Sluggish tailless Australian arboreal marsupial with grey furry ears and coat.
Tall Australian timber tree yielding tough hard wood used for staves etc.
Carnivorous arboreal cat-like marsupials of Australia and Tasmania.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.