Synonyms for instinctive
ɪnˈstɪŋk tɪv; -tʃu əlin·stinc·tive

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 2 votes

1. instinctive

   That is spontaneous which is freely done, with no external compulsion and, in human actions, without special premeditation or distinct determination of the will; that is voluntary which is freely done with distinct act of will; that is involuntary which is independent of the will, and perhaps in opposition to it; a willing act is not only in accordance with will, but with desire. Thus voluntary and involuntary, which are antonyms of each other, are both partial synonyms of spontaneous. We speak of spontaneous generation, spontaneous combustion, spontaneous sympathy, an involuntary start, an unbidden tear, voluntary agreement, willing submission. A babe's smile in answer to that of its mother is spontaneous; the smile of a pouting child wheedled into good humor is involuntary. In physiology the action of the heart and lungs is called involuntary; the growth of the hair and nails is spontaneous; the action of swallowing is voluntary up to a certain point, beyond which it becomes involuntary or automatic. In the fullest sense of that which is not only without the will but distinctly in opposition to it, or compulsory, involuntary becomes an antonym, not only of voluntary but of spontaneous; as, involuntary servitude. A spontaneous outburst of applause is of necessity an act of volition, but so completely dependent on sympathetic impulse that it would seem frigid to call it voluntary, while to call it involuntary would imply some previous purpose or inclination not to applaud.

   Synonyms:
   automatic, free, impulsive, involuntary, spontaneous, unbidden, voluntary, willing

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:2.5 / 2 votes

1. instinctive

   Synonyms:
   natural, voluntary, spontaneous, intuitive, impulsive

   Antonyms:
   cultivated, forced, reasoning, rationalistic

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. natural, instinctiveadjective

   unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct

   "a cat's natural aversion to water"; "offering to help was as instinctive as breathing"

   Synonyms:
   innate(p), natural, raw(a), rude(a), born(p), lifelike

   Antonyms:
   induced

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. instinctiveadjective

   Synonyms:
   natural, spontaneous, involuntary

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "instinctive":

   knee-jerk, intuitive

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How to use instinctive in a sentence?

1. Danny Aiello:

   People call me an instinctive actor. I used to consider that an insult early on, only because I had never studied.

2. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi:

   We do not agree on the need of intervening (in Syria)without a strategy for what comes next because we have seen what happened in Libya, we cannot trust in instinctive, emotional, short-term reactions.

3. Tom Hanks:

   I am calling you' chosen ones' because you have been chosen in many ways, first, by the temperament and discipline you've lived by, by the creative fires that are inside of you and the instinctive lunges of your desires... You succeeded because of the aid and the love of others that are in your lives, without a doubt. But you have succeeded mostly because you, and you alone, chose to do so.

4. Bertrand Russell:

   The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of frendship or affection.

5. Charles Baudelaire:

   Poetry and progress are like two ambitious men who hate one another with an instinctive hatred, and when they meet upon the same road, one of them has to give place.