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

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

The present-day Pacific Northwest has a prominent survivalist streak along with a healthy number of, shall we say, weird faith clubs.

From Salon • Apr. 13, 2025

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 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