hunter-gatherer

noun

hunt·​er-gath·​er·​er ˈhən-tər-ˈga-t͟hər-ər 

: a member of a culture in which food is obtained by hunting, fishing, and foraging rather than by agriculture or animal husbandry

Examples of hunter-gatherer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The circumstances of the man’s traumatic injury are unknown, but this case may be the earliest evidence of conflict between hunter-gatherers in mainland Southeast Asia, according to the study. —Mindy Weisberger, CNN Money, 29 Aug. 2025

After the last ice age, huge ice sheets melted and global sea levels rose, submerging Stone Age settlements and forcing the hunter-gatherer human population inland. —Jason Ma, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2025

This primal urge is deeply ingrained in our species, which spent 95% of its history as hunter-gatherers, relying on cooperation for survival. —Julie Kratz, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025

As that happened, animal and plant populations shifted range or died out, and hunter-gatherer societies either became nomadic or clustered around remaining water sources and took up one or another form of sedentary agriculture, including the cultivation of the date palm. —Jacob Jones, JSTOR Daily, 13 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for hunter-gatherer

• gatherer

Kids Definition

hunter-gatherer

noun

hunt·​er-gath·​er·​er

-ˈgat͟h-ər-ər,

-ˈget͟h-

: a member of a culture in which food is gotten by hunting, fishing, and gathering rather than by agriculture