Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word instinct. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word instinct, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say instinct in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word instinct you have here. The definition of the word instinct will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofinstinct, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
From Latinīnstinctus, past participle of īnstinguō(“to incite, to instigate”), from in(“in, on”) + stinguō(“to prick”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
In spite of these qualifications, the broad distinction between instinct and habit is undeniable. To take extreme cases, every animal at birth can take food by instinct, before it has had opportunity to learn; on the other hand, no one can ride a bicycle by instinct, though, after learning, the necessary movements become just as automatic as if they were instinctive.
An intuitive reaction not based on rational conscious thought.
Her eyes, whose colour I had not at first known, so dim were they with repressed tears, so shadowed with ceaseless dejection, now, lit by a ray of the sunshine that cheered her heart, revealed irids of bright hazel – irids large and full, screened with long lashes; and pupils instinct with fire.
1899, John Buchan, No Man's Land:
It was a most Bedlamite catalogue of horrors, which, if true, made the wholesome moors a place instinct with tragedy.
This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters.