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INSTINCTIVELY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
As a matter of instinct
Example:
he instinctively grabbed the knife
Classified under:
Pertainym:
instinctive (unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct)
Context examples:
My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Martin's hand instinctively closed on the piece of gold.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I shuddered involuntarily, and clung instinctively closer to my blind but beloved master.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his Kukri.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Instinctively he leaped into the fire, and as he leaped, he felt the sharp slash of teeth that tore through the flesh of his leg.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Instinctively we drew closer together in the bottom of the boat.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
She looked instinctively at Lady Russell; but not from any mad idea of her recognising him so soon as she did herself.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
But that one dark glimpse of the river, through the gateway, had instinctively prepared me for her going no farther.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It came to her then more bitterly than ever that Beth was slowly drifting away from her, and her arms instinctively tightened their hold upon the dearest treasure she possessed.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
