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• Native American
  Native American

  noun

  Indian.
• native American
  native American

  noun

  a person born in the United States.

Native American

¹ American  

[nay-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

Sensitivity

See Indian, Eskimo.

Other Word Forms

• native-American
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of native American

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Native American native American

“And I said, ‘OK, we’re going to get an ambulance,’” which required first getting permission for an ambulance to enter the Native American reserve where the bus was stopped, Van Gorp explained.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

Different cultures use different names for the 12 or 13 full Moons across the lunar calendar, but many of the common ones we use today originate from Native American cultures.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

It also would have directed state officials to seek agreements with Native American tribes to integrate their traditional knowledge into managing the land.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Polly Girvin, Hunter’s former partner and a retired lawyer focused on Native American issues, called AB 2494’s passage by the Legislature “nearly miraculous.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

The taxi drove through downtown, past a bunch of tourists’ shops advertising furs, Native American art, and gold.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

States receiving funds had to consult with unions, native American tribes and “local community organizations” on their plans to expand broadband.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025

He owned or leased about 18,000 acres and put them all to work: as full-sized sets representing Old West towns, a Dutch village with a windmill, Swiss and Puritan and native American and fishing settlements.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2025

Rather than lose the unique and native American tree and replace it with a newly created hybrid, they hope to cure the native species before it disappears.

From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2023

Although the variant was established in Asia as a result of interbreeding between Denisovans and sapiens, it also spread to European and native American populations.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2023

Ancient music, such as Gregorian chants; new music, such as some experimental twentieth-century art music; and Non-Western music, such as some native American flute music, may not have a strong, repetitive pattern of beats.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

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