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.

The Greeks, like Sigmund Freud, grasped that war is the purist expression of the death instinct, the desire to exterminate all systems of life, including, ultimately, our own.

From Salon

Nations in terminal decline embrace, as Sigmund Freud understood, the death instinct.

From Salon

When I was younger, I was really into Freud, and the entry point for me was an interest in what he calls “the death instinct.”

From Los Angeles Times

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