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• hunter
  hunter

  noun

  a person who hunts game or other wild animals for food or in sport.
• Hunter
  Hunter

  noun

  John, 1728–93, Scottish surgeon, physiologist, and biologist.

hunter

¹ American  

[huhn-ter] / ˈhʌn tər /

noun

• hunters
  plural

1. a person who hunts game or other wild animals for food or in sport.

2. a person who searches for or seeks something.

   a fortune hunter.

3. a horse specially trained for quietness, stamina, and jumping ability in hunting.

4. an animal, as a dog, trained to hunt game.

5. Astronomy. Hunter, the constellation Orion.

6. Also called hunting watch. a watch with a hunting case.

7. hunter green.

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Hunter ² American  

[huhn-ter] / ˈhʌn tər /

noun

1. John, 1728–93, Scottish surgeon, physiologist, and biologist.

2. Robert Mercer Taliaferro 1809–87, U.S. political leader: Speaker of the House 1839–41.

3. a male given name.

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hunter ¹ British  

/ ˈhʌntə /

noun

1. Female equivalent: huntress. a person or animal that seeks out and kills or captures game

2. 1. a person who looks diligently for something

   2. ( in combination )

      a fortune-hunter

3. a specially bred horse used in hunting, usually characterized by strength and stamina

4. a specially bred dog used to hunt game

5. Also called: hunting watch. a watch with a hinged metal lid or case ( hunting case ) to protect the crystal See also half-hunter

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Hunter ² British  

/ ˈhʌntə /

noun

1. John. 1728–93, British physician, noted for his investigation of venereal and other diseases

2. his brother, William. 1718–83, British anatomist and obstetrician

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hunterlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hunters
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of hunter

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English huntere; see hunt, -er ¹

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Explanation

A hunter is someone who seeks, pursues, or looks for something. Some hunters hunt deer but if you're a bargain hunter, you love to search department stores and yard sales for really good deals. Besides hunting for bargains, or for ghosts in her grandparents' attic, a hunter is also a person who enjoys the sport of pursuing and killing game animals and birds. Some hunters hunt for food, while others do it for fun. In Old English, the word was hunta, from huntian, "chase game," which is related to hentan, "to seize."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hunter Hunter hunters

The 1975 film “Jaws,” in which a local government hires a shark hunter to protect the town’s tourism industry, delighted me as a 10-year-old.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

Instead, he liked to tell the story of an expert dove hunter who was asked one day if he shot with one or both eyes open.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

He said it "was like nothing I'd ever spotted on the beach before", having been a fossil hunter for about 10 years.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Her husband Antoine, a head hunter who turns 35 on Sunday, said it was his first time seeing the pope as an adult.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

Now that his goal was in sight, Cluny used all the stealth of a stalking hunter, waiting until the entire horde was in position.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

Cara Hunter said the "loss of guided educational visits is disappointing"

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

More problematic: “Steam catapults have been out of production for decades—no one makes them anymore,” said Hunter Stires, the maritime strategist to former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

In the film, Lori Quate shared his experience of losing his wife Jacqui Hunter in 2020.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Yancoal's Hunter Valley mine expansion was approved by NSW with the condition it only sells coal to nations that have signed the Paris Agreement.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

In England the excited Hunter family were packed in readiness for the voyage home.

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

The finding suggests that Europe was an important part of the journey that eventually brought these predators to the southern continents, where some of their descendants became dominant hunters.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Mackenzie Crook, who wrote and directed “Detectorists,” a gorgeous pastoral comedy about hobbyist hunters seeking Saxon gold in southwest England, has a new series, “Small Prophets,” premiering Wednesday on Apple TV.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

"I think it's James," declared Jerry Hall, suddenly giving viewers hope that the new cast will be better traitor hunters than last year's.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

“With sellers piling into the market and demand falling flat, today’s house hunters can afford to be choosy,” Asad Khan, a senior economist at Redfin, said in a statement.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

Rather than approaching it, the hunters returned to Fairfax and informed authorities, and a deputy sheriff and the town marshal went to investigate.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

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