Native American

¹ American  

[ney-tiv uh-mer-i-kuhn] / ˈneɪ tɪv əˈmɛr ɪ kən /

noun

1. Indian.

2. a member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas, including Indians and non-Indians.

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native American ² American  

noun

1. a person born in the United States.

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Native American British  

noun

1. A member of the indigenous peoples of North America

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Native Americans or any of their languages

Sensitive Note

See Indian, Eskimo.

Other Word Forms

• native-American adjective

Etymology

Origin of native American

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

Example Sentences

Justice Neil Gorsuch, whom Trump appointed to the court, questioned how to square arguments against Trump’s order with the current birthright citizenship exception for children of Native American tribes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

In all of the tension around the founding and the founding documents, there lurks this question of Native American belonging and exclusion and citizenship.

From Slate • Mar. 16, 2026

A member of the Cherokee Nation, the 48-year-old Republican senator from the central state of Oklahoma is currently the only Native American serving in the US Senate.

From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026

Malinche “was well known in the Chicana community, and we loved her,” said Inés Hernández-Ávila, professor emerita of Native American Studies at UC Davis.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026

Spanish landfalls in the Americas were at subtropical latitudes highly suitable for food production, based at first mostly on Native American crops but also on Eurasian domestic animals, especially cattle and horses.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond