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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

instinct.

A natural or inherent impulse or behaviour.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɪn.stɪŋkt/
  1. A natural or inherent impulse or behaviour.

    countable · uncountable
    Many animals fear fire by instinct.
  2. An intuitive reaction not based on rational conscious thought.

    countable · uncountable
    an instinct for order; to be modest by instinct
    Debbie's instinct was to distrust John.
Where this word comes from

From Latin īnstīnctus, past participle of īnstinguō (“to incite, to instigate”), from in (“in, on”) + stinguō (“to prick”).

adj/ˈɪn.stɪŋkt/
  1. Imbued, charged (with something).

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Latin īnstīnctus, past participle of īnstinguō (“to incite, to instigate”), from in (“in, on”) + stinguō (“to prick”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.