instinct

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: in=stinct
• COUNT in NET: 1 in 1 verses (in NT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

instinct, a. [L. instinctus, p. p. of instinguere to instigate, incite; cf. instigare to instigate. Cf. Instigate, Distinguish.].

 Urged or stimulated from within; naturally moved or impelled; imbued; animated; alive; quick; as, birds instinct with life.  [1913 Webster]
"The chariot of paternal deity . . .
Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed
By four cherubic shapes."  [1913 Webster]
"A noble performance, instinct with sound principle."  [1913 Webster]

instinct, n. [L. instinctus instigation, impulse, fr. instinguere to instigate: cf. F. instinct. See Instinct, a.].

•  Natural inward impulse; unconscious, involuntary, or unreasoning prompting to any mode of action, whether bodily, or mental, without a distinct apprehension of the end or object to be accomplished.  [1913 Webster]

  "An instinct is a propensity prior to experience, and independent of instructions."  [1913 Webster]

  "An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads."  [1913 Webster]

  "An instinct is an agent which performs blindly and ignorantly a work of intelligence and knowledge."  [1913 Webster]

  "By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust
  Ensuing dangers."  [1913 Webster]
•  Specif., the natural, unreasoning, impulse by which an animal is guided to the performance of any action, without thought of improvement in the method.  [1913 Webster]

  "The resemblance between what originally was a habit, and an instinct becomes so close as not to be distinguished."  [1913 Webster]
•  A natural aptitude or knack; a predilection; as, an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct.  [1913 Webster]

instinct, v. t. 

 To impress, as an animating power, or instinct.  Bentley.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

instinct, n. & adj.
--n.
1 a an innate, usu. fixed, pattern of behaviour in most animals in response to certain stimuli. b a similar propensity in human beings to act without conscious intention; innate impulsion.
2 (usu. foll. by for) unconscious skill; intuition.
--predic.adj. (foll. by with) imbued, filled (with life, beauty, force, etc.).

Derivative

instinctual adj. instinctually adv.

Etymology

ME, = 'impulse', f. L instinctus f. instinguere incite (as IN-(2), stinguere stinct- prick)

THESAURUS

instinct

a thing for, ability, affinity, aptitude, aptness, archetypal pattern, archetype, automatic response, automatic writing, automatism, bent, bias, blind impulse, brain wave, brainstorm, bump, caliber, capability, capacity, cast, collective unconscious, compulsiveness, conatus, conditioning, conduciveness, delight, diathesis, disposition, dower, dowry, drive, eagerness, echolalia, echopraxia, empathy, endowment, equipment, faculty, fancy, feel, feeling, feeling for, flair, flash, fleeting impulse, forte, genius, gift, gut response, id, impulse, inborn proclivity, inclination, inspiration, instinctiveness, intuition, involuntariness, involuntary impulse, knack, leaning, liability, libido, liking, long suit, makings, metier, natural endowment, natural gift, natural impulse, natural instinct, natural tendency, notion, parts, penchant, potential, power, powers, predilection, predisposition, prejudice, primitive self, probability, proclivity, proneness, propensity, qualification, quick hunch, readiness, reflex, reflex action, sensitivity, sensitivity to, sheer chemistry, sixth sense, skill, soft spot, speciality, strong flair, strong point, subconscious, subconscious urge, sudden thought, susceptibility, talent, talents, tendency, the goods, the stuff, tropism, turn, twist, unlearned capacity, unreasoning impulse, unwilledness, urge, vital impulse, warp, weakness, what it takes, willingness

ROGET THESAURUS

instinct

Necessity

N necessity, involuntariness, instinct, blind impulse, inborn proclivity, innate proclivity, native tendency, natural tendency, natural impulse, predetermination, necessity, necessitation, obligation, compulsion, subjection, stern necessity, hard necessity, dire necessity, imperious necessity, inexorable necessity, iron necessity, adverse necessity, fate, what must be, destiny, destination, fatality, fate, kismet, doom, foredoom, election, predestination, preordination, foreordination, lot fortune, fatalism, inevitableness, spell, star, stars, planet, planets, astral influence, sky, Fates, Parcae, Sisters three, book of fate, God's will, will of Heaven, wheel of Fortune, Ides of March, Hobson's choice, last shift, last resort, dernier ressort, pis aller, necessaries, necessarian, necessitarian, fatalist, automaton, necessary, needful, fated, destined, elect, spellbound compulsory, uncontrollable, inevitable, unavoidable, irresistible, irrevocable, inexorable, avoidless, resistless, involuntary, instinctive, automatic, blind, mechanical, unconscious, unwitting, unthinking, unintentional, impulsive, necessarily, of necessity, of course, ex necessitate rei, needs must, perforce, nolens volens, will he nil he, willy nilly, bon gre mal gre, willing or unwilling, coute que coute, faute de mieux, by stress of, if need be, it cannot be helped, there is no help for, there is no helping it, it will be, it must be, it needs to be, it must be so, it will have its way, the die is cast, jacta est alea, che sara sara, it is written, one's days are numbered, one's fate is sealed, Fata obstant, diis aliter visum, actum me invito factus, non est meus actus, aujord'hui roi demain rien, quisque suos patimur manes, The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, Nor all thy piety nor wit shall draw it back to ca.

Intellect

N intellect, mind, understanding, reason, thinking principle, rationality, cogitative faculties, cognitive faculties, discursive faculties, reasoning faculties, intellectual faculties, faculties, senses, consciousness, observation, percipience, intelligence, intellection, intuition, association of ideas, instinct, conception, judgment, wits, parts, capacity, intellectuality, genius, brains, cognitive powers, intellectual powers, wit, ability, wisdom, Vernunft, Verstand, soul, spirit, ghost, inner man, heart, breast, bosom, penetralia mentis, divina particula aurae, heart's core, the Absolute, psyche, subliminal consciousness, supreme principle, brain, organ of thought, seat of thought, sensorium, sensory, head, headpiece, pate, noddle, noggin, skull, scull, pericranium, cerebrum, cranium, brainpan, sconce, upper story, central processing unit, CPU, arithmetic and logical unit, ALU, metaphysics, psychics, psychology, ideology, mental philosophy, moral philosophy, philosophy of the mind, pneumatology, phrenology, craniology, cranioscopy, ideality, idealism, transcendentalism, spiritualism, immateriality, universal concept, universal conception, metaphysician, psychologist, intellectual, mental, rational, subjective, metaphysical, nooscopic, spiritual, ghostly, psychical, psychological, cerebral, animastic, brainy, hyperphysical, superphysical, subconscious, subliminal, immaterial, endowed with reason, in petto, ens rationis, frons est animi janua, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, mens sola loco non exulat, my mind is my kingdom, stern men with empires in their brains, the mind, the music breathing from her face, thou living ray of intellectual Fire.

Absence or want of Intellect

N absence of Intellect, want of intellect, imbecility brutality, brute force, instinct, brute instinct, stimulus-response loop, conditioned response, instinctive reaction, Pavlovian response, mimicry, aping (imitation), moron, imbecile, idiot, fool, dumb animal, vegetable, brain dead, Adj, unendowed with reason, void of reason, thoughtless, vegetative, moronic, idiotic, brainless, Adv, instinctively, like Pavlov's dog, vegetatively, unendowed with reason, void of reason, thoughtless, vegetative, moronic, idiotic, brainless, instinctively, like Pavlov's dog, vegetatively, V, mimic, ape (imitate), respond instinctively.

& Sophistry

N intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling, presentiment, premonition, rule of thumb, superstition, astrology, faith (supposition), sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion, chicane, chicanery, quiddet, quiddity, mystification, special pleading, speciousness, nonsense, word sense, tongue sense, false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning, petitio principii, ignoratio elenchi, post hoc ergo propter hoc, non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius, misjudgment, false teaching, sophism, solecism, paralogism, quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet, inconsistency, antilogy, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, claptrap, cant, mere words, lame and impotent conclusion, meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry, flaw in an argument, weak point, bad case, overrefinement, hairsplitting, intuitive, instinctive, impulsive, independent of reason, anterior to reason, gratuitous, hazarded, unconnected, unreasonable, illogical, false, unsound, invalid, unwarranted, not following, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, absonous, absonant, unscientific, untenable, inconclusive, incorrect, fallacious, fallible, groundless, unproved, non sequitur, it does not follow, deceptive, sophistical, jesuitical, illusive, illusory, specious, hollow, plausible, ad captandum, evasive, irrelevant, weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague, irrational, nonsensical, foolish, frivolous, pettifogging, quibbling, finespun, overrefined, at the end of one's tether, au bout de son latin, intuitively, by intuition, illogically, non constat, that goes for nothing.