Adjacent Words

Native definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NATIVE, a.
1. Produced by nature; original; born with the being; natural; not acquired; as native genius; native affections; a native talent or disposition; native cheerfulness; native simplicity.
2. Produced by nature; not factitious or artificial; as native ore; native color.
3. Conferred by birth; as native rights and privileges.
4. Pertaining to the place of birth; as native soil; native country; native graves.
5. Original; that of which any thing is made; as mans native dust.
6. Born with; congenial.
NATIVE, n.
1. One born in any place is said to be a native of that place, whether country, city or town.
2. Offspring.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin; "the native North American sugar maple"; "many native artists studied abroad" [ant: foreign, strange]
2: belonging to one by birth; "my native land"; "one's native language" [ant: adopted, adoptive]
3: characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning; "native Americans"; "the aboriginal peoples of Australia" [syn: native, aboriginal] [ant: nonnative]
4: as found in nature in the elemental form; "native copper" n
1: an indigenous person who was born in a particular place; "the art of the natives of the northwest coast"; "the Canadian government scrapped plans to tax the grants to aboriginal college students" [syn: native, indigen, indigene, aborigine, aboriginal]
2: a person born in a particular place or country; "he is a native of Brazil"
3: indigenous plants and animals

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English natif, from Middle French, from Latin nativus, from natus, past participle of nasci to be born — more at nation Date: 14th century 1. inborn, innate <native talents> 2. belonging to a particular place by birth <native to Wisconsin> 3. archaic closely related 4. belonging to or associated with one by birth 5. natural, normal 6. a. grown, produced, or originating in a particular place or in the vicinity ; local b. living or growing naturally in a particular region ; indigenous 7. simple, unaffected 8. a. constituting the original substance or source b. found in nature especially in an unadulterated form <mining native silver> 9. chiefly Australian having a usually superficial resemblance to a specified English plant or animal 10. capitalized of, relating to, or being a member of an aboriginal people of North or South America ; Native American • natively adverb • nativeness noun Synonyms: native, indigenous, endemic, aboriginal mean belonging to a locality. native implies birth or origin in a place or region and may suggest compatibility with it <native tribal customs>. indigenous applies to species or races and adds to native the implication of not having been introduced from elsewhere <maize is indigenous to America>. endemic implies being peculiar to a region <edelweiss is endemic in the Alps>. aboriginal implies having no known race preceding in occupancy of the region <the aboriginal peoples of Australia>. II. noun Date: 1535 1. one born or reared in a particular place 2. a. an original or indigenous inhabitant b. something indigenous to a particular locality 3. a local resident; especially a person who has always lived in a place as distinguished from a visitor or a temporary resident

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a (usu. foll. by of) a person born in a specified place, or whose parents are domiciled in that place at the time of the birth (a native of Bristol). b a local inhabitant. 2 often offens. a a member of a non-White indigenous people, as regarded by the colonial settlers. b S.Afr. a Black person. 3 (usu. foll. by of) an indigenous animal or plant. 4 an oyster reared in British waters, esp. in artificial beds (a Whitstable native). 5 Austral. a White person born in Australia. --adj. 1 (usu. foll. by to) belonging to a person or thing by nature; inherent; innate (spoke with the facility native to him). 2 of one's birth or birthplace (native dress; native country). 3 belonging to one by right of birth. 4 (usu. foll. by to) belonging to a specified place (the anteater is native to S. America). 5 a (esp. of a non-European) indigenous; born in a place. b of the natives of a place (native customs). 6 unadorned; simple; artless. 7 Geol. (of metal etc.) found in a pure or uncombined state. 8 Austral. & NZ resembling an animal or plant familiar elsewhere (native rabbit). Phrases and idioms: go native (of a settler) adopt the local way of life, esp. in a non-European country. native bear Austral. & NZ = KOALA. native rock rock in its original place. Derivatives: natively adv. nativeness n. Etymology: ME (earlier as adj.) f. OF natif -ive or L nativus f. nasci nat- be born

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Native Na"tive, a. [F. natif, L. nativus, fr. nasci, p. p. natus. See Nation, and cf. Na["i]ve, Nelf a serf.] 1. Arising by birth; having an origin; born. [Obs.] Anaximander's opinion is, that the gods are native, rising and vanishing again in long periods of times. --Cudworth. 2. Of or pertaining to one's birth; natal; belonging to the place or the circumstances in which one is born; -- opposed to foreign; as, native land, language, color, etc. 3. Born in the region in which one lives; as, a native inhabitant, race; grown or originating in the region where used or sold; not foreign or imported; as, native oysters, or strawberries.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Native Na"tive, n. 1. One who, or that which, is born in a place or country referred to; a denizen by birth; an animal, a fruit, or vegetable, produced in a certain region; as, a native of France. 2. (Stock Breeding) Any of the live stock found in a region, as distinguished from such as belong to pure and distinct imported breeds. [U.S.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(natives) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Your native country or area is the country or area where you were born and brought up. It was his first visit to his native country since 1948... Mother Teresa visited her native Albania. ADJ: ADJ n 2. A native of a particular country or region is someone who was born in that country or region. Dr Aubin is a native of St Blaise. N-COUNT: N of n • Native is also an adjective. Joshua Halpern is a native Northern Californian. ...men and women native to countries such as Japan. ADJ: ADJ n, v-link ADJ to n 3. Some European people use native to refer to a person living in a non-Western country who belongs to the race or tribe that the majority of people there belong to. This use could cause offence. They used force to banish the natives from the more fertile land. N-COUNT • Native is also an adjective. Native people were allowed to retain some sense of their traditional culture and religion. = indigenous ADJ: ADJ n 4. Your native language or tongue is the first language that you learned to speak when you were a child. She spoke not only her native language, Swedish, but also English and French... French is not my native tongue. ADJ: ADJ n 5. Plants or animals that are native to a particular region live or grow there naturally and were not brought there. ...a project to create a 50 acre forest of native Caledonian pines... Many of the plants are native to Brazil. = indigenous ADJ: ADJ n, v-link ADJ to n • Native is also a noun. The coconut palm is a native of Malaysia. N-COUNT: N of n 6. A native ability or quality is one that you possess naturally without having to learn it. We have our native inborn talent, yet we hardly use it. = innate ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Natal, of birth. 2. Vernacular, mother. 3. Indigenous, natural. 4. Original, genuine, intrinsic, real, unartificial, natural. 5. Home, domestic. 6. Natural, inherent, innate, inborn, inbred, congenital, indigenous. II. n. Original inhabitant.

Moby Thesaurus

aboriginal, aborigine, agrarian, arcadian, artless, atavistic, autochthon, autochthonous, basic, best, bodily, born, bucolic, by birth, candid, citizen, clan, coeval, congenital, connatal, connate, connatural, constitutional, crude, direct, domestic, earliest inhabitant, endemic, ethnic, exclusive, first, first comer, genetic, genuine, hereditary, home, homebred, homegrown, homespun, honest, impure, in the blood, in the raw, inartificial, inborn, inbred, incarnate, indigene, indigenous, indwelling, inhabitant, inherent, inherited, inland, innate, instinctive, instinctual, internal, intestine, intrinsic, local, local yokel, municipal, natal, national, native to, native-born, natural, natural to, naturelike, organic, original, pastoral, physical, primal, primitive, primitive settler, pristine, provincial, raw, resident, run-of-mine, rural, straightforward, temperamental, tribal, unacquired, unadorned, unaffected, unartificial, unassuming, uncultivated, undesigning, undisguising, undissembling, undissimulating, undomesticated, unembellished, unfeigning, ungraded, unpretending, unpretentious, unsorted, unspoiled, unsullied, untouched, unvarnished, vernacular, virgin, virginal