Crossword clues for instinctive
instinctive
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Instinctive \In*stinc"tive\, a. [Cf. F. instinctif.]
Of or pertaining to instinct; derived from, or prompted by,
instinct; of the nature of instinct; determined by natural
impulse or propensity; acting or produced without reasoning,
deliberation, instruction, or experience; spontaneous.
``Instinctive motion.''
--Milton. ``Instinctive dread.''
--Cowper.
With taste instinctive give
Each grace appropriate.
--Mason.
Have we had instinctive intimations of the death of
some absent friends?
--Bp. Hall.
Note: The terms instinctive belief, instinctive judgment,
instinctive cognition, are expressions not ill adapted
to characterize a belief, judgment, or cognition,
which, as the result of no anterior consciousness, is,
like the products of animal instinct, the intelligent
effect of (as far as we are concerned) an unknown
cause.
--Sir H. Hamilton.
Syn: Natural; voluntary; spontaneous; original; innate; inherent; automatic.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1610s (implied in instinctively), from Latin instinct-, past participle stem of instinguere (see instinct) + -ive. Related: Instinctiveness.
Wiktionary
a. 1 related to or prompted by instinct 2 driven by impulse, spontaneous and without thinking.
WordNet
adj. unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct; "a cat's natural aversion to water"; "offering to help was as instinctive as breathing" [syn: natural]
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "instinctive".
Between him and Debussy there is the difference between the apollonian and the dionysiac, between the smooth, level, contained, perfect, and the darker, more turbulent, passionate, and instinctive.
But still, in spite of all, the Indians clung to their priests -- as they said, from affection for the religious care they had bestowed, but quite as possibly from the instinctive knowledge that, between the raiding Portuguese and the maddening patriots in Asuncion, their only safeguard against slavery lay in the Jesuits.
The next best thing was to be here at the therapy centre in Ulan Bator, where those who knew him had outgrown their first instinctive reactions, and those who did not know him could assume he was a patient like themselves.
An animal behaviorist would probably say that this possessiveness was just the instinctive response of her biological clock, so much more keenly tuned in animals, to my longer-than-normal absence on these mornings.
Nevertheless she went up to the strange, fierce-looking birds, and held out her hand to the one Orain held, looking it into the eye and reaching out with that instinctive rapport.
Around him, the desert was vibrantly alive with secret movement--the nocturnal thrust and counterthrust of instinctive survival.
Out flashed this blazing truth: kind acts must be instinctive, natural, thoughtless.
Two adult dark landers were the only ones who stood their ground they were looking for Fraxinus, valuing his guidance even over their own instinctive fears.
The troopers went into an instinctive crouch, and Ali cursed, rolling back into the sandbagged slit and reaching for the groundline com.
Every time she looked at him, Kierendal well believed the tale that Berne had received Monastic traininghis instinctive weight-forward balance and perfect kinesthetic awareness were both convincing and unsettling.
Fifteen years in the Chinese army, most of those as part of a tank crew, had ingrained in him an instinctive longing for maneuverability that was the key to survival in land warfare.
The Odynerus has for its instinctive mission to arrest the excessive multiplication of a lucerne weevil, no less than twenty-four of whose grubs are necessary to rear the offspring of the brigand, and nearly sixty gadflies are sacrificed to the growth of a single Bembex.
Their awareness of their own life and existence is through their sensory input, their outward motor activity and their inward instinctive and learnt mental patterns, which we observe outwardly as their behaviour.
The men, farm hands from the neighbouring ranches, young fellows from Guadalajara, drew back in instinctive repulsion.
Then the reactionary element prevailed, and with a mingled sentiment of admiration for the dauntless front of the small army of regulars and a half painful derision of their own instinctive deference, a storm of cheers burst from the multitude, which was taken up again and again, till the forest rang to its mountain buttresses.