instinctual

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.

The displaced feeling that a process we’ve always been told is natural and instinctual is anything but.

From Salon • Jun. 27, 2026

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

“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

Because we were both attuned to sound beyond its conventional, auditory dimension, we could meet in a shared space that was quite instinctual.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2025

The great taboo against touching another’s dæmon was not instinctual but learned, then.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman