Meanings
plural survivalists
- A person who believes in being prepared to survive and is actively preparing for possible future emergencies and disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order.
But there are also French “survivalists” who – at least until about a decade ago – shared the drawbridge mentality of the Americans stocking up on peanut butter and ammo.
2020 October 11, Laura Spinney, “‘Humans weren’t always here. We could disappear’: meet the collapsologists”, in The Guardian, →ISSN2 more examples
But why would survivalists flock to Pinterest, a site that was adopted early-on by people who wanted to share design ideas for home goods? In a way, preppers are actually the ideal user for the site.
2014 May 15, Colette Shade, “How to Prep for the Apocalypse on Pinterest”, in The AtlanticThe arrival of a starving mother and daughter (perfectly embodied by Olwen Fouéré and Mia Goth) disrupts the survivalist’s methodical routines and hardened emotions. Sex can be traded for food and shelter, but trust has no price;[…]
2017 May 17, Jeannette Catsoulis, “Review: Three Must Become Two in ‘The Survivalist’”, in The New York Times, →ISSNSynonyms: prepper
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who believes in being prepared to survive and is actively preparing for possible future emergencies and disruptions in local, regional, national, or international social or political order.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*úp
- Proto-Indo-European*upér
- Proto-Italic*super
- Latinsuper
- Latinsuper-
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷeyh₃-
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷih₃wós
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷíh₃weti
- Proto-Italic*gʷīwō
- Latinvīvō
- Latinsupervīvere
- Englishsurvive
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Englishsurvival
- Englishsurvivalist
Translations
French survivaliste
- survivalisteperson prepared to survive
Italian survivalista
- survivalistaperson prepared to survive
Polish preppers, surwiwalista
- preppersperson prepared to survive
- surwiwalistaperson prepared to survive
Portuguese sobrevivencialista
- sobrevivencialistaperson prepared to survive
Spanish supervivencialista, pervivencialista
- supervivencialistaperson prepared to survive
- pervivencialistaperson prepared to survive
Swedish preppare
- preppareperson prepared to survive
Cite this entry
survivalist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/survivalist
“survivalist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/survivalist. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “survivalist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/survivalist.
Source: survivalist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.