How to Use instinct in a Sentence

instinct

1 of 2 noun

• He knew by instinct what not to say.
• Our first instinct was to run.
• She seemed to know by instinct that something was wrong.
• Mere instinct alerted her to the danger.
• He has a strong survival instinct.
• Seeing the baby aroused all her maternal instincts.
• He has been guided throughout his career by his political instincts.
• Cats possess a natural hunting instinct.
• Porter was free to act on instinct.
  — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 6 Jan. 2026
• And so my gut instincts were right.
  — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Sep. 2025
• His first instinct was to snap back.
  — Naz Beheshti, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
• That instinct may not be wrong.
  — Allison Palmer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Apr. 2026
• Now his instincts were on high alert.
  — Yaakov Katz, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2025
• Her first instinct was to quit.
  — Brenda Miranda, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
• But that instinct can go amiss.
  — James R Mason, Hartford Courant, 12 May 2026
• That runs against the instinct to chase reach.
  — Caroline Castrillon, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
• Great instincts; can find the ball.
  — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 16 Sep. 2025
• But that instinct didn’t strike me.
  — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 12 Mar. 2026
• So far, its instincts have paid off.
  — Caroline Reid, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
• When in doubt, trust your instincts.
  — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 6 Jan. 2026
• Don’t be afraid to use your gut instinct.
  — Dom Luszczyszyn, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
• Where does that instinct for a killer hook come from?
  — Liam Hess, Vogue, 1 Apr. 2026
• Yet his instinct was still to earn the right to speak.
  — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 3 Mar. 2026
• For a lot of us, our instincts are what got us on the show.
  — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 3 Sep. 2025
• Dani Evans has learned to trust her gut instinct.
  — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2026
• The instinct on spring days is to open the windows.
  — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 12 Mar. 2026
• But the humans still use raw instinct and skill.
  — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 3 Feb. 2026
• Your instincts versus the sunk cost of your trip.
  — Christopher Elliott, Forbes.com, 30 May 2026
• My instinct was to respond with speed and breath.
  — Marie-Louise Jacques, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
• The instinct to push it down and keep moving.
  — Afdhel Aziz, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026

instinct

2 of 2 adjective

• But to act with courage, leaders need more than just instinct or good intentions.
  — Eric Mosley, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025
• Call it chemistry, call it instinct, or maybe practice makes perfect.
  — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2024
• Everything else disappeared—no sound, no thought, just instinct.
  — Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 July 2025
• This decision is instinct, nothing more — a loyalty to my tribe.
  — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2024
• Kelce said being on the same wavelength with his quarterback was borne of work and practice reps which over time became instinct.
  — Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 11 Feb. 2024
• However, there’s still something to be said for what that gut feeling, instinct, or intuition can tell you.
  — Rhett Power, Forbes, 18 Feb. 2024
• Weber had taken a CPR course in high school, and somehow instinct took over.
  — Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
• Stock some cranks that run at 3 to 5 feet deep and others that dig deeper and ricochet off rocks and logs to incite instinct strikes.
  — Gerald Almy, Field & Stream, 20 Mar. 2023
• Their instinct response is to abandon these programs altogether.
  — Khurram Akhtar, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
• While some male dogs may be gentle or playful with puppies, this behavior is often due to social conditioning, and not instinct.
  — Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Sep. 2025
• Habits that when ingrained for long enough become instinct, which is exactly how Maye described his fumble against Washington.
  — Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 16 Aug. 2025
• For two decades, Americana singer-songwriter Amanda Shires has built a body of work that balances instinct with technical skill.
  — Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 9 Sep. 2025
• In the experience economy, where dining is pitched as theatre, that instinct intensifies.
  — Kate Hardcastle, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
• In the early days of hedge funds, so much trading was based on whim, instinct, and vaguely divinatory practices like tape reading, so called after the ticker tape used to transmit trades via telegraph.
  — Tarpley Hitt, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2023
• That’s pretty common, particularly among great coaches and their players, that there is a paternal, fatherly instinct.
  — J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 20 Aug. 2023
• This is hotly debated among scientists and scholars, particularly the instinct part.
  — John Blake, CNN, 18 Mar. 2023
• Vocal learning is the ability to produce new sounds by imitating others, relying on experience rather than instinct.
  — Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, Popular Science, 14 Sep. 2023
• Now, agencies are scrambling to prove their productivity instead of chasing their best ideas through the creative alchemy of experience, instinct, insight and bold thinking.
  — Jacquelyn Lamar Berney, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025
• Another study found that very involved dads experienced more activation in the amygdala, the area of the brain responsible for decision-making, instinct, and the fight-or-flight response.
  — Jamie Friedlander Serrano, TIME, 15 May 2024
• The connections to other habitats in the Belmont Mountains are at risk, and once those pathways are gone, animals are unable to roam, an instinct migratory species need to survive.
  — Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 13 May 2024
• Annalise Caron, a clinical psychologist who runs an initiative dedicated to parenting, understands the instinct parents have to seek community.
  — Fortesa Latifi, Washington Post, 11 May 2023
• But the state is moving in the right direction — relying on evidence and not instinct at its Department of Juvenile Services, a response that will reduce recidivism and strengthen long-term community safety.
  — Josh Rovner, Baltimore Sun, 8 Nov. 2024