involuntary impulse

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.

At the same moment, by an involuntary impulse, I threw off my covering, and, turning my face, fixed my eyes upon my visitant.

From Arthur Mervyn Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 by Brown, Charles Brockden

Maria, with an involuntary impulse of concealment, seized her brush, and began brushing her hair.

From By the Light of the Soul A Novel by Brett, Harold M.

Nor can any one be surprised or scandalized, if I acknowledge my weakness in stating that I could not resist an involuntary impulse to laugh at them "in my sleeve."

From Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries Volumes I. and II., Complete by Hogan, William

Shuddering, I dashed myself against the wall, and by the same involuntary impulse, turned my face backward to examine the mysterious monitor.

From Wieland: or, the Transformation, an American Tale by Brown, Charles Brockden

His own troops seemed to take the field with faintness and reluctance; but, in the heat of the battle, the Prætorian guards, almost by an involuntary impulse, asserted the superiority of their valor and discipline.

From History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 by Milman, Henry Hart