survivalist

American  

[ser-vahy-vuh-list] / sərˈvaɪ və lɪst /

noun

1. a person who makes preparations to survive a widespread catastrophe, as an atomic war or anarchy, especially by storing food and weapons in a safe place.

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survivalist British  

/ səˈvaɪvəlɪst /

noun

1. 1. a person who believes in ensuring his personal survival of a catastrophic event by arming himself and often by living in the wild

   2. ( as modifier )

      survivalist weapons

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Other Word Forms

• survivalism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of survivalist

First recorded in 1965–70; survival + -ist

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

survivalist

The steel fence that a cosplaying Tolkien fan insists on erecting in Middle of Nowhere, Mont., to block his survivalist neighbors’ horses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

The survivalist film will be released by the streaming service on 24 April.

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2026

More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has once again brought newcomers to survivalist schools, as people have been itching to leave the house.

From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2024

They also found survivalist guides scattered around the site.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2023

He did calisthenics each morning to get in shape for the rigors of the bush and discussed backcoun- try survival strategies at length with Bob, a self-styled survivalist.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer