NATIVE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does native mean? 

• NATIVE (noun)
  The noun NATIVE has 3 senses:

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

2. a person born in a particular place or country

3. indigenous plants and animals

  Familiarity information: NATIVE used as a noun is uncommon.

• NATIVE (adjective)
  The adjective NATIVE has 4 senses:

1. characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin

2. belonging to one by birth

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

4. as found in nature in the elemental form

  Familiarity information: NATIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NATIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An indigenous person who was born in a particular place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

aboriginal; aborigine; indigen; indigene; native

Context example:

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

Hypernyms ("native" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "native"):

Levantine ((formerly) a native or inhabitant of the Levant)

Mauritian (a native or inhabitant of Mauritius)

Filipino (a native or inhabitant of the Philippines)

Russian (a native or inhabitant of Russia)

Seychellois (a native or inhabitant of Seychelles)

Derivation:

native (characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person born in a particular place or country

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

he is a native of Brazil

Hypernyms ("native" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Indigenous plants and animals

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Hypernyms ("native" is a kind of...):

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

• NATIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin

Context example:

many native artists studied abroad

Similar:

autochthonal; autochthonic; autochthonous; endemic; indigenous (originating where it is found)

domestic (produced in a particular country)

homegrown (grown or originating in a particular place)

native-born (belonging to a place by birth)

Antonym:

foreign (relating to or originating in or characteristic of another place or part of the world)

Derivation:

native (an indigenous person who was born in a particular place)

nativeness (the quality of belonging to or being connected with a certain place or region by virtue of birth or origin)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Belonging to one by birth

Context example:

one's native language

Similar:

connatural; inborn; inbred (normally existing at birth)

Antonym:

adopted (acquired as your own by free choice)

Derivation:

nativeness (the quality of belonging to or being connected with a certain place or region by virtue of birth or origin)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning

Synonyms:

aboriginal; native

Context example:

the aboriginal peoples of Australia

Antonym:

nonnative (not being or composed of aborigines)

Derivation:

nativeness (the quality of belonging to or being connected with a certain place or region by virtue of birth or origin)

Sense 4

Meaning:

As found in nature in the elemental form

Context example:

native copper

Similar:

pure (free of extraneous elements of any kind)

Derivation:

nativeness (the quality of belonging to or being connected with a certain place or region by virtue of birth or origin)

 Context examples 

In contrast, this agent shows no significant increase in pro-inflammatory activity relative to native IL-3.

(Daniplestim, NCI Thesaurus)

Conatumumab mimics the activity of native TRAIL, binding to and activating TR-2, thereby activating caspase cascades and inducing tumor cell apoptosis.

(Conatumumab, NCI Thesaurus)

Scientists report that the Amazon region has more than 6,700 species of native trees, a figure substantially lower than the 16,200 species estimated in previous reports.

(Inventory revises down Amazon tree species list, SciDev.Net)

On the fourth day, venturing out early a little too far, I saw twenty or thirty natives upon a height not above five hundred yards from me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

As a GH analog, the structure of pegvisomant is similar to that of native GH with the exception of 9 amino acid substitutions.

(Pegvisomant, NCI Thesaurus)

Monk-bred as he was, Alleyne had native shrewdness and a mind which was young enough to form new conclusions and to outgrow old ones.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We had been natives of the world; now we were natives of the plateau.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Data presented support the idea that the organic materials are native to Ceres.

(Dawn Discovers Evidence for Organic Material on Ceres, NASA)

It was in the latter end of September that I again quitted my native country.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Any natural or synthetic composition that replicates the structure or function of a native component of blood.

(Blood Product, NCI Thesaurus)