'anti-spiritualist' originates from the Greek prefix 'anti-' meaning 'against' combined with 'spiritualist' (from Latin 'spiritus' meaning 'breath, spirit' and the English suffix '-ist' denoting a person who practices or believes).

'spiritualist' arose in English in the 19th century in reference to adherents of the Spiritualism movement; 'anti-Spiritualist' (capitalized) was used during debates of that era and has since evolved into the modern compound form 'anti-spiritualist' (often hyphenated or unhyphenated) used as both adjective and noun.

Initially it specifically described opponents of the 19th-century Spiritualism movement; over time it broadened to refer more generally to anyone opposed to spiritualism or to belief in spirits/supernatural spiritual claims.