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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



14 words match “INSTINCTIVE”

INSTINCTIVE a.
ng or produced without reasoning, deliberation, instruction, or experience; spontaneous. "Instinctive motion." Milton. "Instinctive dread." Cowper. With taste instinctive give Each grace appropriate. Mason. Have we had instinctive intimations of the death of some absent friends Bp. Hall.
INSTINCTIVELY adv.
In an instinctive manner; by force of instinct; by natural impulse.
ABOLISH v.
to wipe out. [Archaic] And with thy blood abolish so reproachful blot. Spenser. His quick instinctive hand Caught at the hilt, as to abolish him. Tennyson.
ANTICIPATION n.
Previous view or impression of what is to happen; instinctive prevision; foretaste; antepast; as, the anticipation of the joys of heaven. The happy anticipation of renewed existence in company with the spirits of the just. Thodey.
APPETENCY n.
Specifically: An instinctive inclination or propensity in animals to perform certain actions, as in the young to suck, in aquatic fowls to enter into water and to swim; the tendency of an organized body to seek what satisfies the wants of its organism. These lacteals have mouths, and by animal selection or appetency th…
AUTOCRACY n.
The action of the vital principle, or of the instinctive powers, toward the preservation of the individual; also, the vital principle. [In this sense, written also autocrasy.] Dunglison.
COPY v.
To imitate; to attempt to resemble, as in manners or course of life. We copy instinctively the voices of our companions, their accents, and their modes of pronunciation. Stewart.
IMITATE v.
her species of animal, or a plant, or inanimate object) in form, color, ornamentation, or instinctive habits, so as to derive an advantage thereby; sa, when a harmless snake imitates a venomous one in color and manner, or when an odorless insect imitates, in color, one having secretion offensive to birds.…
INSTINCTIVITY n.
The quality of being instinctive, or prompted by instinct. [R.] Coleridge.
NATURAL a.
oölogy collectively, and sometimes to the science of zoology alone. -- Natural law, that instinctive sense of justice and of right and wrong, which is native in mankind, as distinguished from specifically revealed divine law, and formulated human law. -- Natural modulation (Mus.), transition from one key to its relat…
REPUGNANCE; REPUGNANCY n.
The state or condition of being repugnant; opposition; contrariety; especially, a strong instinctive antagonism; aversion; reluctance; unwillingness, as of mind, passions, principles, qualities, and the like. That which causes us to lose most of our time is the repugnance which we naturally have to labor. Dryden. Let t…
REQUIREMENT n.
ed in the rule of righteousness. J. M. Mason. God gave her the child, and gave her too an instinctive knowledge of its nature and requirements. Hawthorne.
STORGE n.
Parental affection; the instinctive affection which animals have for their young.
UNFOLDMENT n.
The acct of unfolding, or the state of being unfolded. The extreme unfoldment of the instinctive powers. C. Morris.