life instinct


noun

See under death instinct.

Origin of life instinct

First recorded in 1905–10

Definition for life instinct (2 of 2)

death instinct

noun

suicidal tendency or inclination; predisposition to self-destruction.
Psychoanalysis. an impulse to withdraw or destroy, working in opposition to forces urging survival and creation (life instinct).

Origin of death instinct

First recorded in 1915–20

Example sentences from the Web for life instinct

  • The gradual disappearance of my “life-instinct,” which already began a few years ago, is now more marked, more precise.

British Dictionary definitions for life instinct

life instinct

noun

psychoanal the instinct for reproduction and self-preservation

Medical definitions for life instinct (1 of 2)

life instinct

n.

In psychoanalytic theory, the instinct of self-preservation and sexual procreation.

Medical definitions for life instinct (2 of 2)

death instinct

n.

A primitive impulse for destruction, decay, and death, manifested by a turning away from pleasure, postulated by Sigmund Freud as coexisting with and opposing the life instinct. Thanatos