INSTINCT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Instinct

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/ˈɪnstɪŋkt/ Listen

noun

Instinct n.

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. "An instinct is a propensity prior to experience, and independent of instructions." "An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads." "An instinct is an agent which performs blindly and ignorantly a work of intelligence and knowledge." "By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Ensuing dangers."

(Zool.) Specif., the natural, unreasoning, impulse by which an animal is guided to the performance of any action, without thought of improvement in the method. "The resemblance between what originally was a habit, and an instinct becomes so close as not to be distinguished."

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

verb

Instinct v. t. To impress, as an animating power, or instinct. (Obs.)

adjective

Instinct adj. Urged or stimulated from within; naturally moved or impelled; imbued; animated; alive; quick; as, birds instinct with life. "The chariot of paternal deity... Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed By four cherubic shapes." "A noble performance, instinct with sound principle."

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Etymology of 'Instinct'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Instinct" Quotes from Famous Books

... that she was only anxious, and perhaps a little disappointed, at my not seeming brighter. For, after all, everything she had done and was doing was for my sake, and I should have trusted her and known this by instinct, instead of allowing myself from the very first beginning of our coming to London to think I was a sort ...

— My New Home • Mary Louisa Molesworth

... the final and irretrievable calamity: we fear to make ourselves conspicuous, we conform to standard, we bear ourselves meekly in that station whereunto it hath pleased Heaven to call us; the herd instinct survives four-footedness. For, we note the strange but not the familiar; our thinking is to right reason what peat is to coal; the outcry of the living and the dead perverts judgment, closes the ear to proof; and our wisest fear the scorn of ...

— Copper Streak Trail • Eugene Manlove Rhodes

... This brings us to one more question. May we, then, pray for those who have passed on before us? Let us plainly say that there is every reason for and none against the practice. We have in favour of it the sanction of Bible witness, of primitive Church custom, of Christian and human instinct. ...

— The Life of the Waiting Soul - in the Intermediate State • R. E. Sanderson

... without any instructions except to determine what was wrong and correct it. With soldierly instinct, he recognized that the indiscipline of the camp was an effect and not a cause. But even as he gave orders for relieving the physical distress of the men, he demanded that they return ...

— The Armed Forces Officer - Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2 • U. S. Department of Defense

... The untrained, unguided instinct of the actress in Laura had fostered in her a curious penchant toward melodrama. She had a taste for the magnificent. She revelled in these great musical "effects" upon her organ, the grandiose easily appealed to her, ...

— The Pit • Frank Norris

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