survival instinct

noun

: ability to know what to do to stay alive

an animal's survival instinct

Examples of survival instinct in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the present-day timeline, what the heck does that look like inside a scared 17-year-old who is not trying to survive in the wilderness and who has not been through that, but who maybe has an energy coursing through her, like the energy of that survival instinct of that experience? —Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 13 Apr. 2025

That survival instinct to run towards safety and away from danger dates back to humans’ hunter gatherer days, Klontz said. —Lorie Konish, CNBC, 4 Apr. 2025

Does anyone on this program have one iota of a survival instinct in their doomed bodies? —Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 25 Apr. 2025

Perkins gives us the randomness of extraordinarily bad fortune and, for a lucky few, the value of a hardy survival instinct. —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 20 Feb. 2025

For another, something about seeing another version of himself triggers Mickey’s long-dormant survival instinct; if one of the two Mickeys doesn’t sacrifice himself for the greater good, both of them are going to be put out of commission on a permanent basis. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 15 Feb. 2025

The wedding, its own sentient entity with a strong survival instinct, will lurch forward regardless. —Rachel Handler, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2024

The reason butterflies fly so erratically is a survival instinct. —Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 29 July 2024

There’s something about street cats and bodega cats and the survival instinct side of the city. —James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 June 2024