Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Belonging to a place by birth: Describes a person born in a specific location or a thing originating from a specific place.
   • Inherent, innate: Describes a quality or ability that is natural, existing from birth.
   • Indigenous, original: Describes people, plants, animals, or things that belong to a region from the earliest times.
   • Existing in a pure, uncombined state: Describes a chemical element found in nature in its elemental form.

2. Noun:

   • A person born in a particular place: Refers to someone who was born in a specific country, region, or city.
   • An indigenous inhabitant: Refers to a person belonging to the original ethnic group of a region.
   • An animal or plant indigenous to a region: Refers to a species that originated in and is characteristic of a specific place.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:

  • She returned to her native country after many years abroad.
  • He has a native talent for music.
  • The native plants of this island are unique.
  • Copper is sometimes found in its native state.

• Noun:

  • He is a native of Brazil.
  • The museum exhibits artifacts from the natives of the region.
  • This bird is a native to Australia.

Advanced Usage

• "Go native" (idiomatic): To adopt the lifestyle or customs of the local people, often used when someone from a different culture begins to live like the indigenous population.

  • After living in the village for a year, he completely went native.

• "Native to": Used to specify the place of origin for a species.

  • The kangaroo is native to Australia.

Variants and Related Words

• Natively (adverb): In a native manner; by natural origin.

  • The software is natively designed for this operating system.

• Nativeness (noun): The state or quality of being native.

  • The nativeness of the species is crucial for the ecosystem.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Indigenous, aboriginal, local, innate, inherent, natural.
• Noun: Inhabitant, local, indigene, aborigine.

Related Phrases

• Native speaker: A person who has spoken a particular language from earliest childhood.

  • She is a native speaker of English.

• Native land: The country of one's birth.

  • He longed to see his native land again.

Related Idioms

• Native wit: Natural intelligence or common sense.
  • He survived the ordeal through sheer native wit.

Adjective

1. as found in nature in the elemental form
   • native copper
2. characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning
   • native Americans
   • the aboriginal peoples of Australia
3. belonging to one by birth
   • my native land
   • one's native language
4. characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin
   • the native North American sugar maple
   • many native artists studied abroad

Noun

1. indigenous plants and animals
2. a person born in a particular place or country
   • he is a native of Brazil
3. 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