Instinctive

//ɪnˈstɪŋktɪv// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Related to or prompted by instinct.
  2. 2
    Driven by impulse, spontaneous and without thinking.

    "When approached by a stranger, Jared clenched his fists in an instinctive manner."

Adjective
  1. 1
    unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
spontaneousanimalanimaliananimalicanimalisticatavistic

Example

More examples

"The most instinctive act of nearly every creature is to protect its young, and with humans, this response persists for a lifetime."

Etymology

From instinct + -ive.

Related phrases

instinctive drift

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