death instinct

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.

A cult is really about the death instinct.

From Salon

It was Freud who posited the Nirvana principle as an innate psychic drive or death instinct that aims to end life’s inevitable tension.

From The Guardian

There is eros, the erotic, desirous, and dynamic half of our nature, and then there is thanatos, the “death instinct”—a lethargy that pulls us toward numbness, quietness, and repetition.

From The New Yorker

Take his introduction to the idea of “the death instinct” at the novel’s opening.

From New York Times

With our erotic selves, we seek out action, novelty, and sensation; nudged by our death instincts, we retreat back into ourselves, and into our pasts.

From The New Yorker