self-preservation

[ self-prez-er-vey-shuh n, self- ]

/ ˈsɛlfˌprɛz ərˈveɪ ʃən, ˌsɛlf- /

preservation of oneself from harm or destruction.

Origin of self-preservation

First recorded in 1605–15

self-pre·serv·ing, adjective

Prompted by a self-preserving instinct, this nationality deftly kept itself hid.

The Brothers' War |John Calvin Reed
Hunger is the most pressing desire of the egoistic or self-preserving impulse.

Outwitting Our Nerves |Josephine A. Jackson and Helen M. Salisbury
After all, self-preservation is the first law, and Oscar is a self-preserving type.

Four-Day Planet |Henry Beam Piper
How else could the self-preserving instincts, and all that grows out of them, have been evoked?

The Letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman |Walt Whitman

A cool, self-centred, self-preserving something in his mind had taught him to command all his own forces for one purpose.

Despair's Last Journey |David Christie Murray

self-preservation

the preservation of oneself from danger or injury, esp as a basic instinct