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

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Etymology

Origin of survivalist

First recorded in 1965–70; survival + -ist

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

survivalist

Crowds of weekend warriors limit their ability to climb in isolation, and the region is rapidly filling up with “mansions, survivalist compounds, movie-star bungalows” and more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2026

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

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2026

In a fantastically engaging performance, Ralph Fiennes stars as the survivalist physician Ian Kelson, whom we met near the end of the previous feature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

This kind of intergenerational trauma creates a survivalist impulse that can give birth to the darkest of intentions and most grandiose effort for world control.

From Slate ● May 23, 2024

He called himself a survivalist and liked to wear camouflage and collect skulls of animals he found in the woods behind our house or on the side of the road.

From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda

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