noun
- the policy of protecting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants.
- the policy or practice of preserving or reviving an indigenous culture.
- Philosophy. the doctrine that innate ideas exist.
- innateness hypothesis.
noun
- mainly US the policy of favouring the natives of a country over the immigrants
- anthropol the policy of protecting and reaffirming native tribal cultures in reaction to acculturation
- the doctrine that the mind and its capacities are innately structured and that much knowledge is innate
n.U.S. anti-immigrant movement, 1845, from native (adj.) + -ism. Later used in other contexts. Related: Nativist.