'anti-consumerist' originates from modern English, specifically a combination of the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti', meaning 'against') and 'consumerist' (derived from 'consumer' + the agentive suffix '-ist').

'consumer' derives from Latin 'consumere' meaning 'to take up, use up'; the noun 'consumer' developed in English, followed by 'consumerism' (consumer + '-ism') and the agent noun 'consumerist' (consumer + '-ist'). The prefix 'anti-' (Greek) has long been used in English to form oppositional adjectives and nouns; 'anti-consumerist' arose in modern English in the 20th century alongside critiques of mass consumer culture.

Initially, the roots referred to 'using up' (Latin 'consumere'); over time the combined forms came to refer not to literal consumption only but to the social and cultural system of consumption ('consumerism') and opposition to it, yielding the modern meaning 'against consumerism' for 'anti-consumerist'.