as in tendency
a usually innate ability or desire to perform a specific activity
Pouncing on mice is a cat's natural instinct. We needed all of our survival instincts to make it through the weeks lost at sea.
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Recent Examples of instinct
In a world of constant visibility and instant judgment, the cost of failure can feel higher than ever— the instinct is to avoid risk, protect what exists, and wait for certainty that never arrives.
—
Keith Krach,
Fortune,
3 July 2026
Advertisement Reformers of the Progressive era shared many of these anxieties, yet their instinct was to revise rather than reject the patriotic impulse.
—
Dominic Erdozain,
Time,
3 July 2026
The studio showed strong instincts when picking creative partners on the horror side, too.
—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
2 July 2026
Backyard ideas for dogs that match their instincts Dog digging pit.
—
Ryan Brennan,
Kansas City Star,
2 July 2026
See All Example Sentences for instinct
Keith Krach,
Fortune,
3 July 2026
Advertisement Reformers of the Progressive era shared many of these anxieties, yet their instinct was to revise rather than reject the patriotic impulse.
—
Dominic Erdozain,
Time,
3 July 2026
The studio showed strong instincts when picking creative partners on the horror side, too.
—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
2 July 2026
Backyard ideas for dogs that match their instincts Dog digging pit.
—
Ryan Brennan,
Kansas City Star,
2 July 2026
See All Example Sentences for instinct
Recent Examples of Synonyms for instinct
Noun
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These deciduous trees are invasive in many areas because of their aggressive roots that spread wide and far, and their tendency to take over native plants.
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This is largely because about half of autistic children have a tendency to wander away from safe environments.
Noun
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While students honed their skills at the Santa Monica studio for the last year and four months, Blanck found an old pilates studio in Pacific Highlands for rent, but the numbers just didn't add up.
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Those types of players are still enormously valuable because many of their skills are always valuable.
Noun
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Spiritual progress requires fighting against the natural downward inclination of our souls—though fighting, oddly, is also the problem.
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Getty Choosing a college major has always been a big life decision, influenced by not only personal inclinations and talents, but also by starting salaries.
Noun
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After surgery, that device is programmed to send mild electrical impulses that block abnormal nerve signals and dramatically reduce tics.
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The show frames the American project as defined by a longstanding tension between impulses to maintain the status quo and demands for change.
Noun
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The fraught subject of the proper disposition of those human remains has taken on a new sensitivity — both for the prehistoric people’s Native American successors in Florida, and for the archaeologists and developers encountering them.
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That disposition compounded into the richest, most inventive society the world has ever seen.
Cite this Entry
“Instinct.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/instinct. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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