hunter-gatherer

noun

hunt·​er-gath·​er·​er ˈhən-tər-ˈga-t͟hər-ər How to pronounce hunter-gatherer (audio)
: 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
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Dogs evolved from gray wolves (Canis lupus) that began living near human hunter-gatherer settlements at least 15,000 years ago—long before agriculture became a thing. Scott Travers, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025 The technology has certainly come a long way from when Inuit hunter-gatherers used to wear caribou antlers carved with thin slits in order to prevent snow blindness. Todd Plummer, Robb Report, 21 Feb. 2025 The fact that hunter-gatherers built Poverty Point challenges conventional ideas about early civilizations. Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 8 Feb. 2025 Now, scientists say most of the mammoths used to build the site were female, which suggests the Ice Age hunter-gatherers were hunting or scavenging from herds, rather than trapping lone males. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hunter-gatherer

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hunter-gatherer was in 1938

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Cite this Entry

“Hunter-gatherer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hunter-gatherer. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

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

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