Lexic.us

Definition of Instinct

1. Noun. Inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to specific stimuli. "Altruistic instincts in social animals"

2. Adjective. (followed by 'with')deeply filled or permeated. "It is replete with misery"

Definition of Instinct

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

2. 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.

3. v. t. To impress, as an animating power, or instinct.

Definition of Instinct

1. Noun. A natural or inherent impulse or behaviour. ¹

2. Noun. An intuitive reaction not based on rational conscious thought. ¹

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

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Instinct

1. an inborn behavioral pattern [n -S]

Medical Definition of Instinct

1. 1. 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." (Paley) "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." (Whately) "An instinct is an agent which performs blindly and ignorantly a work of intelligence and knowledge." (Sir W. Hamilton) "By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Ensuing dangers." (Shak) 2. Specif, the natural, unreasoning, impulse by which an animal is guided to the performance of any action, without of improvement in the method. "The resemblance between what originally was a habit, and an instinct becomes so close as not to be distinguished." (Darwin) 3. A natural aptitude or knack; a predilection; as, an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct. Origin: L. Instinctus instigation, impulse, fr. Instinguere to instigate: cf. F. Instinct. See Instinct. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Instinct

instilled instiller instillers instilling instillment instillments instills instilment instils instimulate

instimulated instimulates instimulating instimulation instimulations instinct (current term) instinct(p) instinction instinctive instinctive drift

instinctive reflex instinctively instinctivity instincts instinctual instinctually institute institute of medicine instituted instituter

Literary usage of Instinct

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1909)
"CHAPTER VIII instinct instincts comparable with habits, but different in their origin—instincts graduated—Aphides and ants—instincts variable—Domestic ..."

2. The Philosophical Review by Sage School of Philosophy, Cunningham, Gustavus Watts, 1881-, James Edwin Creighton, Frank Thilly, Jacob Gould Schurman (1897)
"A lack of self-consciousness implies a dual nature in which instinct and reason are distinct wholes under no unitary governing principle. ..."

3. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1913)
"They accordingly attribute all the conscious activities of the animal to instinct, since, as they claim, none of these activities can be traced to intellect ..."

4. The British Journal of Psychology by British Psychological Society (1913)
"instinct actions. The importance of cell instinct actions. Interaction of instinct ... AH animal activity reducible to the instinct action form. III. ..."

5. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1897)
"He holds play to be an instinct developed by natural selection (for he does not accept ... It is very near, in its origin and function, to the instinct of ..."

6. The Popular Science Monthly (1873)
"Man too has his instinct, as animals have. By instinct the new-born child ... And yet intelligence is not wanting in animals either, only with them instinct ..."

7. Isis Unveiled: A Master-key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1892)
"Thus, in the case in hand, the instinct of Macaulay"s Blackfoot Indian is more ... instinct is the universal endowment of nature by the Spirit of the Deity ..."

8. The Harvard Classics by Charles William Eliot (1909)
"CHAPTER VIII instinct instincts comparable with habits, but different in their ... We are concerned only with the diversities of instinct and of the other ..."

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