nativist

[ ney-ti-vist ]

noun

1. a person who urges the promotion of the interests of inhabitants born in a country over those of immigrants:

   Nativists advocate a hard line against immigrants, but loud and aggressive efforts have proven to be an electoral bust.

2. a person who advocates or engages in the preservation or revival of an Indigenous culture:

   Some nativists began urging fellow Mi’kmaq to pray to Gluskap, their traditional culture hero, instead of to the “foreign” Christ.

3. Philosophy. a person who argues for the existence of ideas that are not learned but are part of the original constitution of the mind:

   Nativists emphasize genetics, biology, and innate mechanisms, while empiricists insist that babies are born into the world with no knowledge of it.

4. Psycholinguistics. a person who argues for the innateness hypothesis, that humans are born with a knowledge of certain universal elements of language structure that comes into play during first-language acquisition:

   The differences in language ability in subjects with Down syndrome may lie at the level of the brain’s microcircuitry, where nativists locate innate language knowledge.

adjective

1. of, being, or relating to nativists or their views:

   Many countries have seen the emergence of angry nativist movements aimed at combating further immigration.

Other Words From

• na·tiv·is·tic [ney-ti-, vis, -tik] adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nativist¹

nativ(e) ( def ) + -ist ( def )

Example Sentences

“In the backdrop, we had this growing anti-immigrant, nativist, fascist rhetoric rising in the country,” said Perea, the executive director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice.

From Los Angeles Times

The former president's rhetoric has taken a notably nativist turn in recent weeks, with Trump hosting entire rallies dedicated to bad-mouthing immigrants and promising mass deportation.

From Salon

Trump seems poised to move with speed to advance his autocratic, isolationist, nativist, anti-rule-of-law agenda.

From Salon

"Morning Joe"-style liberals and Beltway Democrats will say that nativist voices in New York have an ill-informed, "populist" point of view.

From Salon

Such lies are routinely circulated by white supremacists and other racists and nativists when there are changes, real or perceived, in the country’s racial and ethnic demographics.

From Salon