death instinct
noun
: an innate and unconscious tendency toward self-destruction postulated in psychoanalytic theory to explain aggressive and destructive behavior not satisfactorily explained by the pleasure principle
called also Thanatos
compare eros sense 2Examples of death instinct in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
This sympathy wasn’t simply a fascination with human evil—with a death instinct—but an attraction to a deeper freedom, a more intense form of life than parliaments and pamphleteering offered.
—
George Packer, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
We’ve been told over and over again that there’s a part of her that flirts with the death instinct in a pretty big way.
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 May 2023
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George Packer, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
We’ve been told over and over again that there’s a part of her that flirts with the death instinct in a pretty big way.
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 May 2023
Dictionary Entries Near death instinct
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“Death instinct.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/death%20instinct. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
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