instinct

Speech parts

1. instinct - Noun

2. instinct - Adjective

3. instinct - Verb

4. instinct - Adjective Satellite

Meaning

Urged or stimulated from within; naturally moved or impelled; imbued; animated; alive; quick; as, birds instinct with life.

Natural inward impulse; unconscious, involuntary, or unreasoning prompting to any mode of action, whether bodily, or mental, without a distinct apprehension of the end or object to be accomplished.

Specif., the natural, unreasoning, impulse by which an animal is guided to the performance of any action, without of improvement in the method.

A natural aptitude or knack; a predilection; as, an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct.

To impress, as an animating power, or instinct.

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Phrases with the word

Examples

Men always want to be a woman's first love. That is their clumsy vanity. We women have a more subtle instinct about things. Oscar Wilde

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. Socrates

Love isn't an emotion or an instinct - it's an art. Mae West

Opportunity plus instinct equals profit. Klingon Proverb

A good dog hunts by instinct. French Proverb

Instinct is stronger than upbringing. Irish Proverb

Close letter words and terms