How to use indigenous in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Indigenous means native to a land, especially before colonization. Example: “The Aboriginals were indigenous to Victoria before the World War.”

Examples of indigenous by meaning

adjectiveNative to a land, especially before colonization.

The Aboriginals were indigenous to Victoria before the World War.
Horses, like camels, had once been indigenous to Latin America but had become extinct.1997, Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, Monthly Review Press, page 17

adjectiveIn particular, of or relating to a people (or their language or culture) that inhabited a region prior to the arrival...

The Ainu are the indigenous ethnic group of Japan's Hokkaido Island.
Taiwan's other two per cent are from one of the nine indigenous tribes, which are scattered throughout the island but largely concentrated along the east coast and in the Central Mountain Range.2007 April, Julie Grundvig, “TAIWAN”, in The Asia Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the Continent, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 103, column 2
The team auctioned off the right to name the new species to publicize the find and raise awareness and funds for the indigenous Lahu people of northern Thailand, a group that Sippawat is part of.2023 September 26, Hafsa Khalil, “Electric blue tarantula species discovered in Thailand”, in CNN

adjectiveOriginal to a geographical area.

That style of pottery is indigenous to that region.

More sentences with indigenous

The indigenous fauna of Australia and New Zealand featured an especially interesting array of flightless birds.From the entry flightless
The indigenous Taíno name for the island of Puerto Rico was 'Borikén', which literally means "Homeland of the People".From the entry Puerto Rico
Commonly spoken community languages in Australia include Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Arabic, Greek, Italian, indigenous languages, and so on.From the entry community language
Malagasy, like many indigenous languages in the Global South, has few formal language resources.2020 August 4, Cyrus Multhauf, “How a Malagasy Teenager Created the World’s Second-Largest Dictionary”, in NEEM Blog, archived from the…. From the entry Madagascar
Indigenous protest was tied up with the resistance of enslaved peoples and trekboers.2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 82. From the entry trekboer
Moth orchids, or phalaenopsis, are indigenous to countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia.2019 April 10, Adrian Higgins, “This florist started caring for ailing orchids on the side. He’s now babysitting 13,000.”, in The…. From the entry phalaenopsis
The Atayal, one of the indigenous peoples in Taiwan, make up the main population of the community.2015, Hung Yu Ru, En Chia Lo, “The local moral world and agricultural activities of the committed organic farmer: A case study from an…. From the entry Xinzhu
The solution was the recognition of eleven official languages: the two 'white languages' and nine indigenous languages.2012 October 11, Anver M. Emon, Mark Ellis, Benjamin Glahn, Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 367. From the entry Solomonic
If you would like a low-maintenance, waterwise garden, your best bet is to go indigenous.2012, Penny Swift, Owner Building in South Africa, page 184. From the entry waterwise
Most troublesomely, the local indigenous population, the Querandí, were nomadic hunters, not settled farmers.2011, Norman Henderson, Rediscovering the Prairies: Journeys by Dog, Horse, and Canoe, TouchWood Editions, →ISBN. From the entry Querandí
Once the Spikeweed had been removed, a ground cover of indigenous Little sticky seed soon developed.2010, Michael Samways, Peter Hitchins, Dr Orty Bourquin, Dr Jock Henwood, Tropical Island Recovery: Cousine Island, Seychelles, Wiley…. From the entry spikeweed
In health care for indigenous people, the power dynamic directly affects communication.2008 November 4, David Peiris, Alex Brown, Alan Cass, “Addressing inequities in access to quality health care for indigenous people”, in…. From the entry power dynamic
However appealing Antibes may be to migrant authors, indigenous ones are relatively scarce.2004, Ted Jones, chapter 3, in The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers, London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, published 2007…. From the entry translate
Cornhole, the indigenous pastime of Cincinnati's west side, is basically a democratized version of horseshoes.2002 October, “Cornhole Game”, in Cincinnati Magazine, page 114. From the entry cornhole
Each apartment was heated individually by kachelofens, the typical ceramic stoves indigenous to this region.2000, Norbert Schoenauer, 6,000 Years of Housing, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN. From the entry kachelofen
It is, rather, an indigenous Andean folk symbol of Spanish, and later criollo, colonialist oppression.1997, Milos Kokotovic, Confronting Postmodernism. From the entry pishtaco
Cohen embraced the clipping as a kind of found literature-an indigenous comic genre.1981, Jacob Rader Marcus, Abraham Joseph Peck, Studies in the American Jewish Experience: Contributions from the Fellowship Programs of…. From the entry found literature
Cochineal was cultivated in individual households, indigo was common, and several dyewoods were indigenous.1979, Kax Wilson, A History of Textiles, Westview Press, →ISBN, page 336. From the entry dyewood
One of the quintessential values of the indigenous Ewe society is pacificity.1976, Conflict and harmony in education in tropical Africa, page 85. From the entry pacificity
Although indigenous to Japan as a technique, early maki-e retained a T'ang Chinese influence in design.1975, Patricia Salmon, A Guide to Japanese Antiques, page 22. From the entry maki-e
In television terms, a certain amount of smear, ringing, and anticipatory overshoot are indigenous to VSB transmission.1954, Radio & Television News: Radio-electronic engineering section. From the entry smear
First; original; indigenous; primitive; native; as, the aboriginal tribes of America.1913, “Aboriginal”, in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. From the entry as
Under colonial rule, learning or speaking my grandma’s native Hokkien, along with dozens of indigenous languages, was illegal by law.2022 June 22, Zoe Yu, “Endangered Languages Are Worth Saving”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jun…. From the entry Hokkien
Suárez) is a tuberous species native to the Amazon and traditionally farmed by indigenous and riverside populations in Tropical America.2021, Michelle Cristine Medeiros Jacob, Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque, Local Food Plants of Brazil, page 282. From the entry ariá
Miaoli County features cultural essence and rich tourism resources, embracing multi-ethnic groups of Fukienese, Hakka, and indigenous tribes.2018 December 18, “"Blessing in Miaoli, Shining in the World."”, in Culture and Tourism Bureau, Miaoli County [苗栗縣政府文化觀光局], archived from…. From the entry Fukienese
Insurrection and subversion are primarily the weapons of indigenous antigovernments.2017, Richard K. Betts, Conflict After the Cold War. From the entry antigovernment
For indigenists, benefits included a new and potentially more compelling frame in which to promote their advocacy of indigenous selfdetermination.2016, Thomas Karl Alberts, Shamanism, Discourse, Modernity, Routledge, →ISBN. From the entry indigenist
Every mountain in Petra has carved water channels in the indigenous stone that catch the seasonal erosion floods.2015 fall, Michael R. Walker, “Monumental Task”, in BYU Magazine, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, →OCLC, archived from the original…. From the entry catchment
Saraguros strongly identify themselves as an indigenous ethnic group.2015, David Syring, With the Saraguros: The Blended Life in a Transnational World. From the entry Saraguro
The name Tsez derives from the indigenous self-designation cez or cezi, while the alternative Dido is the Georgian designation.2013 December, Bernard Comrie, Maria Polinsky, “Tsez”, in University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Maryland, College Park…. From the entry Georgian
In other words, these baragouins could be said to consist of a largely European lexicon plus largely indigenous morpho-syntax and phonology.2012, United Houma Nation with the support of Nicholas Faraclas [et al.], “Influences of Houma Ancestral Languages on Houma French: West…. From the entry baragouin
To retain both white languages as the official languages of post-Apartheid would have been demeaning of the nine main indigenous languages.2012 October 11, Anver M. Emon, Mark Ellis, Benjamin Glahn, Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 367. From the entry Solomonic
First it will examine the etymologies of the various groups as products of Egyptian nomenclature (exonymy) or indigenous nomenclature (endonymy).2011, William Cooney, Egypt's encounter with the West: Race, Culture and Identity in Pacific Linguistics (thesis, Durham University). From the entry endonymy
Joseph Nawahi leaves an important legacy for following generations about the nature and purpose of Kanaka Maoli and indigenous art.2011, Jonathan Harris, Globalization and Contemporary Art, →ISBN. From the entry Kanaka Maoli

Meaning of indigenous

adjective Native to a land, especially before colonization.
adjective In particular, of or relating to a people (or their language or culture) that inhabited a region prior to the arrival of people of other cultures which became dominant (e.g., through colonialism), and which maintains a distinct culture.
adjective Innate, inborn.

Full definition of indigenous

Questions about indigenous in a sentence

How do you use indigenous in a sentence?: Indigenous is used as an adjective. For example: “The Aboriginals were indigenous to Victoria before the World War.”
What is a short sentence with indigenous?: “Saraguros strongly identify themselves as an indigenous ethnic group.”
What does indigenous mean?: Indigenous means native to a land, especially before colonization.

Adapted from Wiktionary: indigenous (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use indigenous in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/indigenous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.