self-preservation
[self-prez-er-vey-shuh n, self-]
- preservation of oneself from harm or destruction.
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Origin of self-preservation
First recorded in 1605–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for self-preservation
Contemporary Examples
The cynical will note that fundamentalist charismatics do have some sense of self-preservation.
One motivation for Republicans might be self-preservation alone.
Traditionally, people who make their living giving and taking punches have not paid much heed to the law of self-preservation.
Could Jagger and the Stones pull off a similar feat of reinvention and self-preservation?
It was just another shameful act of self-preservation from a singularly evil man.
Historical Examples
Here is nature once more at her old game of self-preservation.
Monday or TuesdayVirginia Woolf
He was savage justice and the law of self-preservation personified.
Murder PointConingsby Dawson
It was the instinct of self-preservation that gave him inspiration to accomplish it.
The Gaunt Gray WolfDillon Wallace
They are self-preservation and the perpetuation of the species.
The Paliser caseEdgar Saltus
Therefore she uses the right which she reserved—the right of self-preservation.
The Long RollMary Johnston
self-preservation
- the preservation of oneself from danger or injury, esp as a basic instinct
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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
Word Origin and History for self-preservation
n.
1610s, from self- + preservation. First attested in Donne.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper