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
Some of this is because our instinct as parents is often to make things easier for them, rescue them from their mistakes, and limit their experiences with struggle or (gasp) failure.
—
Alanna Gallo, Parents, 7 Feb. 2026
These inflection points prompted community action as an instinct, laying the groundwork for this harrowing moment.
—Evan Minsker, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2026
Maye was establishing himself as an MVP candidate with the arm and accuracy to complete the deep ball combined with the instincts and running ability if the play broke down.
—Hank Gola, New York Daily News, 6 Feb. 2026
Others will lead with instinct and originality.
—Sophia Panych, Allure, 6 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for instinct
Alanna Gallo, Parents, 7 Feb. 2026
These inflection points prompted community action as an instinct, laying the groundwork for this harrowing moment.
—Evan Minsker, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2026
Maye was establishing himself as an MVP candidate with the arm and accuracy to complete the deep ball combined with the instincts and running ability if the play broke down.
—Hank Gola, New York Daily News, 6 Feb. 2026
Others will lead with instinct and originality.
—Sophia Panych, Allure, 6 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for instinct
Recent Examples of Synonyms for instinct
Noun
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If readers are at all uncertain of his sociopathic tendencies, Heathcliff then hangs his wife’s dog.—
Natasha O'Neill,
Vanity Fair,
13 Feb. 2026
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The Turkish experience also speaks to the tendency of diasporas to become politically frozen at the moment of departure from their home countries.—
Michael Paarlberg,
The Conversation,
12 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Using skills, Codex can pull design assets from Figma, manage bug tracking and releases in Linear, deploy applications to cloud platforms such as Vercel and Cloudflare, and generate images using OpenAI’s image model.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
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Kate had changed her hair into a stylish bob — but apparently hadn’t updated her mothering skills — two years later when, in the sequel, Kevin again was discovered missing, at the Miami airport.—
Jocelyn Noveck,
Mercury News,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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This is because when people lose weight, the body’s natural inclination is to return to its previous weight – a phenomenon called metabolic adaptation.—
Amy J. Sheer,
The Conversation,
5 Feb. 2026
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The 11 satellites on board are flying to a mid-inclination orbit.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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We should be asked how our youth retain the impulse to be free when trigger-happy Israeli soldiers and snipers are ordered to kill unarmed children demanding their human rights.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
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What remains is a story narrowed to its most immediate impulses.—
Ana Gutierrez,
Austin American Statesman,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Internal affairs investigations are sent to the police chief for final disposition.—
Matthew Cupelli,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
9 Feb. 2026
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Quenneville, who is in his first year with the Ducks, praised LaCombe’s disposition and saw his mild manner matter-of-factly, expressing confidence in his ability to handle the bright lights of the Olympic stage.—
Andrew Knoll,
Oc Register,
8 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Instinct.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/instinct. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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