instinctive

Etymology

It is formed from English instinct + -ive;^[2][3][4][5] the OED takes it from the stem Latin instinct- of instinguō (“to instigate, incite, impel”) with the English suffix,^[6][5] and compares French instinctif, recorded only from 1803.^[6] The noun comes from instinctus (“instigation, impulse”), directly or through Old French instinct,^[5][6] and the Latin verb is formed from in- and stinguō (“to prick, goad”),^[7][5][6] from Proto-Indo-European *steig- (“to prick, stick, pierce”), the source of stick.^[5][7] The OED compares distinct, extinct and instigate.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of instinct, or resulting from it: the Shorter Oxford dates this to the late 15th century and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century,^[2][3] but the OED's first record is from before 1656, in Bishop J. Hall's Invisible World,^[6] and Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1640s.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as acting without choice or reason, or rising in the mind without apparent cause, quoting Milton's Paradise Lost: "By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung".^[8] From 1716, in Pope's translation of the Iliad, it was used in poetry as an adverb, meaning instinctively,^[6][2] although the adverb instinctively itself is older, from Shakespeare's Tempest (before 1616).^[6][5] Collins adds the sense of an action conditioned so as to seem innate, as in driving.^[9] Coleridge used the noun instinctivity.^[5]

Timeline

• late 15th century – of the nature of instinct, or resulting from it.^[2] The OED's first record is from before 1656.^[6]
• 1716 – in poetry, as an adverb, instinctively.^[6][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or prompted by instinct; innate rather than learned or reasoned: an instinctive fear of snakes.^[3][9][6]
2. Done without conscious thought, as if by instinct, through practice or conditioning: After a few weeks of lessons, braking became instinctive.^[9][2]

Adverb

1. (poetic, rare) Instinctively.^[2][6]

Word family

• instinctively
• noninstinctive
• uninstinctive

Related words

• instinct
• instinctual
• instigate
• distinct
• extinct

Usage notes

Collins and Dictionary.com give instinctual as another form of the adjective.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins