instinctual
Americanadjective
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even those with lives, careers and families are fundamentally lost, snared between their pursuit of personal justice and instinctual self-preservation.
From Salon ● May 19, 2026
“The Drama” demands discomfort before defying it, making for a sophisticated viewing experience that questions our instinctual judgments.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2026
“Yermak was more a sort of instinctual negotiator…Budanov has his instincts, but I think he’s going to be much more punctilious about the preparations.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Her references are instinctual: the curve of a staircase, the glossy page of a magazine, memories of watching her mother getting ready for a night out with girlfriends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025
Bebop, though, was too fast, too instinctual, too trance-like to allow for much conceptualising or theorising.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
