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

Not unlike the bestselling memoir “Educated” by Tara Westover, who overcomes an abusive childhood in a rural survivalist Mormon family.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 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

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

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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