nativism

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English native

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der.

English -ism

English nativism

From native + -ism.

Noun

nativism (countable and uncountable, plural nativisms)

1. (chiefly US) A policy of favoring native-born inhabitants over immigrants.
   • 1982 March 18, “Not Nativist, Not Racist, Not Mean”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 8 June 2025:

     To understand just how rare, look back into history to, say, the Johnson Act of 1924. Its national-origins quota system reverberated with nativism and racism.

   • 2021 November 21, Oliver Milman, “Climate denial is waning on the right. What’s replacing it might be just as scary”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 9 December 2021:

     If there is to be another iteration of a Trump presidency, or a successful campaign by one of his acolytes, the scientific denial may be dialed down somewhat while retaining the reflex nativism.

   • 2025 December 15, Greg Sargent, Inside Stephen Miller’s Dark Plot to Build a MAGA Terror State‎^[3], The New Republic:

     They were targeted by a virulent strain of nativism toward those from Southern and Eastern Europe that was largely about race.

2. The policy of perpetuating the culture of the natives of a colonised country.
3. (countable) A cultural element that is native to a colonised country.
   • 2021 November 11, Aatish Taseer, “Tracing Mexico’s Complicated Relationship With Rice”, in The New York Times Style Magazine‎^[4], archived from the original on 13 November 2021:

     The Columbian Exchange was proof like no other of how, when it comes to food, so often the venue of our greatest nativisms, we, as human beings, easily slip the ties of belonging.

4. (philosophy) The doctrine that some skills or abilities are innate and not learned.
5. (linguistics) A theory that some knowledge of grammar is innate.

Derived terms

• antinativism

Related terms

• antinativist
• native-speakerism
• nativist

Translations

Translations

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: nativisme (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: nativismi
• French: nativisme (fr) m
• German: Nativismus (de) m
• Greek: νατιβισμός (el) m (nativismós)
• Italian: nativismo (it) m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: nativismo (pt) m
• Russian: нативи́зм (ru) m (nativízm)
• Spanish: nativismo (es) m

Anagrams

• vitamins

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French nativisme. By surface analysis, nativ +‎ -ism.

Noun

nativism n (uncountable)

1. nativism

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	nativism	nativismul
genitive-dative	nativism	nativismului
vocative	nativismule

References

• nativism in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN