How to Use self-preservation in a Sentence

self-preservation

noun
  • Koepp says this is a form of self-preservation.
    — Darryn King, Vanity Fair, 19 May 2026
  • When push comes to shove, Warsh will choose self-preservation.
    — Brett Owens, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
  • To look away is an act of both will and denialism, a form of self-preservation.
    — David Remnick, New Yorker, 28 July 2025
  • Sometimes not speaking out can be an act of self-preservation.
    — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024
  • The reason has less to do with laziness than self-preservation.
    — Caroline Castrillon, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026
  • This project proves that home decor can be both an act of self-expression and self-preservation.
    — Moná Thomas, People.com, 22 May 2025
  • Then, there's self-preservation.
    — Trey Wallace Outkick, FOXNews.com, 26 May 2026
  • The drive circuits around what keeps us alive, beyond mere self-preservation.
    — Rosie Stockton may 29, Literary Hub, 29 May 2025
  • There’s a self-preservation in there somewhere, a bit of resilience.
    — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 7 May 2023
  • The body defaults to self-preservation.
    — Amelie Claydon, New York Times, 17 June 2026
  • What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs?
    — The Editors, National Review, 6 June 2024
  • Pride is measured against self-preservation.
    — Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 16 May 2026
  • The boy in the story has developed some crafty means of self-preservation.
    — Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
  • As the moon and Saturn clash, self-preservation instincts kick in.
    — Usa Today, USA Today, 9 July 2025
  • What may look like consent is often survival or self-preservation.
    — Liz Roberts, New York Daily News, 30 June 2025
  • So, this sorting can be an act of self-preservation — a way of making sense of a world where all the rules have changed.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Denver Post, 31 Aug. 2025
  • So, this sorting can be an act of self-preservation – a way of making sense of a world where all the rules have changed.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2025
  • Her will—and maybe her capacity for self-preservation—had waned.
    — Amory Rowe Salem and Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 9 Jan. 2024
  • My husband — who has much stronger instincts for self-preservation — stayed firmly on the ground.
    — Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
  • There’s no judgment here on those who need to step away from soul-crushing updates in the name of self-preservation.
    — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2024
  • No one comes out of the film unscathed or as a beacon of anything other than self-preservation.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Yet the band had predetermined the time frame on the basis of ideas of self-preservation.
    — Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025
  • These days, the instinct for self-preservation may be losing out to the thirst for adventure.
    — J. George Gorant, Robb Report, 6 June 2025
  • About the importance of setting boundaries for the sake of self-preservation?
    — Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Nov. 2023
  • Kenneth is a 38-year-old who’s led a very small, isolated life out of self-preservation.
    — Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 14 June 2023
  • What real or invented term could be used to describe this extreme form of self-preservation?
    — The Week Staff, The Week, 10 Mar. 2023
  • But Cyrus, unlike Lee, values self-preservation above the truth.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
  • This conclusion was a measure of self-preservation.
    — Literary Hub, 14 May 2026
  • Recent tests show some advanced models will act to ensure their self-preservation if threatened with demise.
    — Josh Feldman, NBC news, 1 June 2025
  • Of resourceful self-preservation for the sake of self-preservation alone.
    — Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic, 28 Nov. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'self-preservation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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