self-preservation

[ self-prez-er-vey-shuhn, self- ]

noun
  1. preservation of oneself from harm or destruction.

Origin of self-preservation

1
First recorded in 1605–15

Other words from self-preservation

  • self-pre·serv·ing, adjective

Words Nearby self-preservation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use self-preservation in a sentence

  • Like a hurt animal, half crawling, knowing only the base instinct of self preservation, he tried for that delivery alleyway.

  • Self-interest and self-preservation dictated many laws which secured the welfare of society.

  • They are made from the instinct of self-preservation, from patriotic aspirations, from the necessities of civilization.

  • But Brodrick's family, by the sheer instinct of self-preservation, was awake to everything that concerned it.

    The Creators | May Sinclair
  • She was still an unknown and uncharted land to him, to which at times the instinct of self-preservation blindly inclined him.

    The Woman Gives | Owen Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for self-preservation

self-preservation

noun
  1. the preservation of oneself from danger or injury, esp as a basic instinct

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012