Question

Select the most appropriate antonym of the given word:
Native
a. Indigenous
b. Endemic
c. Alien
d. Inborn

Answer 1

Hint: An antonym is a word that means opposite to the meaning of the given word. The word is ‘native’. A native of a certain place is a person who has been born in that place.

Complete answer:
Since native means someone who originally belongs to a place, the antonym of native would mean someone who does not naturally belong to a place. The word closest to this meaning is ‘alien’, that is option c, ‘alien’.

Thus, the correct answer is option c.
Option a is a synonym of the word ‘native’ since indigenous means something which is original to a particular place having originated there. Therefore, option a is an incorrect answer.
Option b talks about ‘endemic’ which refers to an animal or a plant which is a specialty of a place since it grows only there. For example, Darjeeling tea comes from Darjeeling tea leaves which are endemic to the Darjeeling area of West Bengal. Thus, it is a meaning similar to ‘native’ and not its antonym. Hence, it is an incorrect answer.
Option d is wrong because ‘inborn’ refers to something which naturally belongs to a person as a result of it existing since birth. For example, a person can have an inborn talent for public speaking. He didn’t acquire it over time, he has always been good at it. Thus, ‘inborn’ is also somewhat similar to the meaning of ‘native’ and is thus, not the correct answer.

Note: A word can have more than one meaning. For example, ‘endemic’ means both ‘native’ as well as ‘a disease which is prevalent among a certain group of people’. The first meaning makes it a synonym of the given word, ‘native’, while the second meaning makes it completely unrelated to the given word. Therefore, it is important to know the various meanings of a word.