NATIVIST Synonyms: 23 Similar and Opposite Words

nativist 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of nativist

as in nativistic

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Dissimilar Words

internationalist

nativist

2 of 2

noun

as in nationalist

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of nativist

Adjective

At large right-wing events, young conservatives have consistently espoused a deeply nativist strain of politics, and expressed their fandom of Fuentes and his politics. — Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2026 Not that extricating supply chains from China is sufficient in today’s nativist political climate. — Charlie Campbell, Time, 18 Aug. 2026 The sociologist Brian Donovan, in a book on the subject, describes how the hysteria over white slavery served at once as a progressive campaign against prostitution and as a vindication of nativist fear. — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026 Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has taken unfair flak from nativist elements of the MAGA base. — Editorial Board, Washington Post, 4 Aug. 2026 The tension between the need for new workers and resurgent nativist politics will influence who comes, who settles and who is counted among the ancestors of future generations. — Albert Sun, New York Times, 2 July 2026 Driven by the same nativist and xenophobic ideas, the United States adopted the Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924, which ended mass immigration by introducing national-origin quotas designed to favor Northern and Western Europeans and exclude nonwhite immigrants almost entirely. — M. Gessen, Mercury News, 11 June 2026 Was this restrictive definition not akin to the nativist rhetoric coming from the right? — Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 10 June 2026 Today, not only are these conditions under assault by a kleptocratic, nativist US federal government, but the clock seems also to be running out on their own internal contradictions. — Katy Siegel, Artforum, 2 June 2026

Noun

This undiplomatic tirade went over well in the White House, but marked him as a belligerent nativist abroad and something of an isolationist at home. — Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nativist

Adjective

After a rather lengthy political battle, Bethan Vaughan triumphs over an antisemitic and xenophobic candidate to become only the second PM during the run of The Diplomat.

— Peter White, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2026
In real life, the yakuza gangs were not always so xenophobic.

— Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of xenophobic

Noun

Democracy in America is facing growing threats from white supremacists and Christian nationalists, and those who are concerned must work harder to counter them, panelists told attendees at a Monday night forum in Kansas City.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 21 Oct. 2026
That burden kept growing partly because nationalists on the periphery tended to revolt, especially when rival empires encouraged them.

— NIALL FERGUSON, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of nationalist

Adjective

The far-right National Rally has accused the far left of stoking violence and promoted its anti-immigrant platform for next year’s presidential election.

— Ellen Francis, Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2026
The worst outcome of this would be the coming to power of an extreme, right-wing, conspiratorial, anti-immigrant, anti-European, anti-NATO, anti-the-alliance-of-democracy government.

— Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of anti-immigrant

Noun

There really are chauvinists out there.

— Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 4 June 2026
Sacco knows better than most that political chauvinists of all kinds can point to past moments of injury and humiliation to justify any current cruelty or authoritarian project—an especially powerful appeal when those historical injustices are real.

— Robert Rubsam, The Atlantic, 18 Dec. 2025

Definition of chauvinist

Adjective

Sellers have cut prices, closed stores, branched into other patriotic merchandise or turned to Trump’s rallies for sales.

— Mia Osmonbekov, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
Onscreen, this ethnic conflict allowed Ken-san and other kimonoed gangsters to be presented as pure, sincere, patriotic heroes fighting for traditional Japanese values against savage aliens as well as local, gun-toting yakuza.

— Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of patriotic

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Style

“Nativist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nativist. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of nativist

adjective

noun

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