Instinct

//ˈɪn.stɪŋkt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A natural or inherent impulse or behaviour. countable, uncountable

    "Many animals fear fire by instinct."

  2. 2
    inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to specific stimuli wordnet
  3. 3
    An intuitive reaction not based on rational conscious thought. countable, uncountable

    "an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Imbued, charged (with something). archaic

    "The chariot of paternal deity […] / Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed / By four cherubic shapes."

Adjective
  1. 1
    (followed by ‘with’) deeply filled or permeated wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
a thing forabilityaffinityaptitudeaptnessarchetypal pattern

Example

More examples

"In making a decision, I rely not on logic but on instinct."

Etymology

From Latin īnstīnctus, past participle of īnstinguō (“to incite, to instigate”), from in (“in, on”) + stinguō (“to prick”).

Related phrases

death instinctgut instinctherd instinctherding instinctinstinct shootingkiller instinctsurvival instinct

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.