instinct

Etymology

From Latin instinctus, past participle of instinguere (“to incite, to instigate”), from in (“in, on”) + stinguere (“to prick”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.stɪŋkt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

instinct (countable and uncountable, plural instincts)

1. A natural or inherent impulse or behaviour.

   Many animals fear fire by instinct.

   • Shakespeare

     By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust / Ensuing dangers.

   • 1921, Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind:

     In spite of these qualifications, the broad distinction between instinct and habit is undeniable. To take extreme cases, every animal at birth can take food by instinct, before it has had opportunity to learn; on the other hand, no one can ride a bicycle by instinct, though, after learning, the necessary movements become just as automatic as if they were instinctive.

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

   an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct

   Debbie's instinct was to distrust John.

Adjective

instinct (comparative more instinct, superlative most instinct)

1. (archaic) Imbued, charged (with something).
   • Milton

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

   • Brougham

     a noble performance, instinct with sound principle

   • 1857, Charlotte Brontë, The Professor

     Her eyes, whose colour I had not at first known, so dim were they with repressed tears, so shadowed with ceaseless dejection, now, lit by a ray of the sunshine that cheered her heart, revealed irids of bright hazel – irids large and full, screened with long lashes; and pupils instinct with fire.

   • 1928, HP Lovecraft, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’:

     This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters.

Further reading

• instinct in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• instinct in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin instinctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃s.tɛ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

instinct m (plural instincts)

1. instinct
2. gut feeling

Further reading

• “instinct” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).