Word.ws English Dictionary

prepper

UK/ˈpɹɛpə/US/ˈpɹɛpɚ/

prepper noun: a student at a prep school.

Noun (1)

prepper (plural preppers)

  1. (UK, slang) A student at a prep school.
    Synonyms:
    preppy
  2. (UK, slang) A prep school.
    • ‘We have a vacancy at a very nice little prepper in North Yorkshire. Cundall Manor.’2010, Stephen Fry, The Fry Chronicles

Noun (2)

prepper (plural preppers)

  1. Someone who actively prepares for emergencies by having useful things on hand, such as extra water, food, medicine, fuel, and so on.
    1. (extreme degree) A survivalist.
      • Preppers are keen not to be seen as survivalists – the stereotypically anti-government, wood-dwelling, gun-toting hermits of past decades. Rather than isolating themselves in preparation for Armageddon, preppers tend to have normal jobs, mingle with their communities and take a more relaxed view...2010 March 26, Madeleine Morris, “Americans get set for disaster day”, in BBC News
      • After all, Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp says it was always meant to be a utility: “It’s a tool people use to plan their futures,” he told ReadWrite earlier this year. Preppers just happen to think the future looks bleak.2014 May 15, Colette Shade, “How to Prep for the Apocalypse on Pinterest”, in The Atlantic

Examples of prepper in a sentence

  • Preppers are keen not to be seen as survivalists – the stereotypically anti-government, wood-dwelling, gun-toting hermits of past decades.2010 March 26, Madeleine Morris, “Americans get set for disaster day”, in BBC News:
  • The themes and motifs of the prepper movement are having a moment in the mainstream.2020 March 21, Mark O’Connell, “This Is Not the End of the World and You Are Not a Prepper”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  • The preppers were living in flush times in a beautiful region, but it seemed like the first thing they did with money was steel for the apocalypse.2020 April 24, Nellie Bowles, “I Used to Make Fun of Silicon Valley Preppers. Then I Became One.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Synonyms of prepper

Forms of prepper

pluralpreppers

Origin of prepper

From prep (“prep school”) + -er.

From prep (“prepare”, verb) + -er.

Words that rhyme with prepper

Questions about prepper

What does prepper mean?
Prepper means a student at a prep school.
How do you use prepper in a sentence?
Preppers are keen not to be seen as survivalists – the stereotypically anti-government, wood-dwelling, gun-toting hermits of past decades.
What part of speech is prepper?
Prepper is a noun.
How do you pronounce prepper?
Prepper is pronounced /ˈpɹɛpɚ/ (US).
What is the plural of prepper?
The plural of prepper is preppers.

Words near prepper in the dictionary

  1. prepotentials
  2. prepotently
  3. prepped
  4. prepped out
  5. prepped up
  6. prepper
  7. preppers
  8. preppie
  9. preppier
  10. preppies
  11. preppiest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prepper (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-prepper.ogg.

Cite this entry: “prepper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prepper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.