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INSTINCTIVE
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct
Example:
offering to help was as instinctive as breathing
Synonyms:
instinctive; natural
Classified under:
Similar:
self-generated; spontaneous (happening or arising without apparent external cause)
Context examples:
So the toast was drunk, the pledge made and loyally kept in spite of many temptations, for with instinctive wisdom, the girls seized a happy moment to do their friend a service, for which he thanked them all his life.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
She should then have heard more: Mrs. Weston would speak to her, with a degree of unreserve which she would not hazard with Isabella; and, she really believed, would scarcely try to conceal any thing relative to the Churchills from her, excepting those views on the young man, of which her own imagination had already given her such instinctive knowledge.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
An attempt at concealment had been her first instinctive movement on perceiving him, yet she could scarcely hope to have escaped his eye; and when her friend, who with an apologizing look darted hastily by her, had joined and disappeared with him, she ran for safety to her own room, and, locking herself in, believed that she should never have courage to go down again.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Her instinctive fear of the father of her progeny was toning down.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Such was his instinctive compliment to the good manners of Mr. Crawford; and, be the consequence what it might, Fanny's immediate feelings were infinitely soothed.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
No matter how incidentally or naturally I endeavoured to form my little wife's mind, I could not help seeing that she always had an instinctive perception of what I was about, and became a prey to the keenest apprehensions.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
She could not believe that this raging beast was her Hans, and with a shock she became suddenly aware of a shrinking, instinctive fear that he might snap her hand in his teeth like any wild animal.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
She had an instinctive sense of what was pleasing and proper, always said the right thing to the right person, did just what suited the time and place, and was so self-possessed that her sisters used to say, If Amy went to court without any rehearsal beforehand, she'd know exactly what to do.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
On the other hand, being a sheep-dog, her instinctive fear of the Wild, and especially of the wolf, was unusually keen.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Thank you, I am so glad, was Fanny's instinctive reply; though when she had turned from him and shut the door, she could not help feeling, And yet why should I be glad? for am I not certain of seeing or hearing something there to pain me?
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
