Meaning & use
hunter and gatherer
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Meanings
nouncountabletechnical
A person who lives by hunting animals and collecting wild plants rather than by farming.
Grammar: Countable; the plural 'hunter-gatherers' is more common when talking about a group.
Patterns
- a hunter-gatherer society
- hunter-gatherers lived in
- the life of a hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherers moved from place to place as food ran out.
These caves were once used by hunter-gatherers.
Her research looks at how hunter-gatherers shared food.
nounusually pluraltechnical
A society or way of life based on hunting and collecting wild food instead of agriculture.
Grammar: Often used in the plural to mean a whole group or culture: 'hunter-gatherers' or 'hunter-gatherer societies'.
Patterns
- hunter-gatherer societies
- a hunter-gatherer community
- hunter-gatherer culture
Before farming began, most people lived in hunter-gatherer societies.
The exhibition compares hunter-gatherer cultures on different continents.
Word forms
| plural | hunter-gatherers |
|---|
Common combinations
- hunter-gatherer society
- A hunter-gatherer society depends on what the land provides.
- nomadic hunter-gatherers
- Nomadic hunter-gatherers follow the animals they hunt.
- hunter-gatherer diet
- Some people today follow a hunter-gatherer diet.
- hunter-gatherer lifestyle
- The book describes a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
Synonyms and how they differ
- forager
- A narrower word for someone who collects wild food; it does not necessarily include hunting.
- nomad
- Focuses on moving from place to place; hunter-gatherers are often nomadic, but the words are not identical.
Opposites
Word family
- hunting noun
- The activity of chasing and killing animals for food or sport.
- gathering noun
- The activity of collecting plants, berries, or other wild food.
Commonly confused: hunter and gatherer or hunter? hunter and gatherer or gatherer?
hunter and gatherer vs hunter
A hunter only hunts; a hunter-gatherer also collects wild plants and other food.
hunter and gatherer vs gatherer
A gatherer only collects food; the full term includes hunting as well.
Practice
Which sentence uses the term correctly?
Choose one answer.
Hunter-gatherers get food from hunting and collecting wild plants, so option 1 fits. Option 0 describes farming, which is the opposite way of life, and option 3 is nonsense because they did not shop for food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hunter and gatherer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.