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

After a while, a sort of austere survival instinct kicked in for me. — Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 22 June 2026

This is antithetical to every survival instinct in your body. — Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2026

His new films taps into the mood in his native Russia in 2022 with a twist-laden tale of privilege, betrayal, jealously, primordial survival instinct and compromise in a Russian provincial city. — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 20 May 2026

With Khamenei’s regime, and his life, on the line, the resistance instinct must be warring with the survival instinct beneath that black turban. — Karim Sadjadpour, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2026