hunter-gatherer

American  

[huhn-ter-gath-er-er] / ˈhʌn tərˈgæð ər ər /

noun

Anthropology.

1. a member of a group of people who subsist by hunting, fishing, or foraging in the wild.

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hunter-gatherer British  

adjective

1. (of a society, lifestyle, etc) surviving by hunting animals and gathering plants for subsistence

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noun

1. a member of such a society

Example Sentences

In addition, many present-day hunter-gatherer societies still include scavenging as part of their subsistence practices, demonstrating that it remains a practical and effective strategy.

From Science Daily • Jan. 19, 2026

For hundreds of thousands of years, humans evolved to meet the physical and psychological demands of hunter-gatherer life, which required frequent movement, short bursts of intense stress and daily exposure to natural settings.

From Science Daily • Dec. 8, 2025

Back before California was settled by Europeans and others, the Miwok and Nisenan subsisted on a hunter-gatherer diet of acorns, venison, salmon, pine nuts, elderberries, and other berries and plants.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 23, 2025

That was probably useful in a hunter-gatherer society.

From Slate • Aug. 5, 2025

Adoption of food production may have been rapid and wholesale in southeastern and central Europe because the hunter-gatherer lifestyle there was less productive and less competitive.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond