'Instinctive' definitions:
Definition of 'instinctive'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct; "a cat's natural aversion to water"; "offering to help was as instinctive as breathing" [syn: natural, instinctive]
Definition of 'Instinctive'
From: GCIDE
- Instinctive \In*stinc"tive\, a. [Cf. F. instinctif.] Of or pertaining to instinct; derived from, or prompted by, instinct; of the nature of instinct; determined by natural impulse or propensity; acting or produced without reasoning, deliberation, instruction, or experience; spontaneous. "Instinctive motion." --Milton. "Instinctive dread." --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
- With taste instinctive give Each grace appropriate. --Mason. [1913 Webster]
- Have we had instinctive intimations of the death of some absent friends? --Bp. Hall. [1913 Webster]
- Note: The terms instinctive belief, instinctive judgment, instinctive cognition, are expressions not ill adapted to characterize a belief, judgment, or cognition, which, as the result of no anterior consciousness, is, like the products of animal instinct, the intelligent effect of (as far as we are concerned) an unknown cause. --Sir H. Hamilton.
- Syn: Natural; voluntary; spontaneous; original; innate; inherent; automatic. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'instinctive'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- animal,
- animalian,
- animalic,
- animalistic,
- atavistic,
- automatic,
- beastlike,
- beastly,
- bestial,
- blind,
- bodily,
- born,
- brutal,
- brute,
- brutelike,
- brutish,
- coeval,
- compulsive,
- conditioned,
- congenital,
- connatal,
- connate,
- connatural,
- constitutional,
- dumb,
- forced,
- genetic,
- gut,
- hereditary,
- immediate,
- impulsive,
- in the blood,
- inborn,
- inbred,
- incarnate,
- indigenous,
- ingrained,
- inherent,
- inherited,
- innate,
- instinctual,
- intestinal,
- intrinsic,
- intuitional,
- intuitive,
- involuntary,
- irrational,
- libidinal,
- mechanical,
- mindless,
- native,
- native to,
- natural,
- natural to,
- nonrational,
- normal,
- organic,
- physical,
- primal,
- reflex,
- reflexive,
- regular,
- spontaneous,
- subconscious,
- subhuman,
- subliminal,
- temperamental,
- typical,
- unconscious,
- unintentional,
- unlearned,
- unmeditated,
- unpremeditated,
- unprompted,
- unthinking,
- unwilled,
- unwilling,
- unwitting,
- visceral,
- zoic,
- zooidal,
- zoologic