How to Use self-preservation in a Sentence

self-preservation

noun
  • What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs?
    The Editors, National Review, 6 June 2024
  • The boy in the story has developed some crafty means of self-preservation.
    Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
  • There’s a self-preservation in there somewhere, a bit of resilience.
    Jordan Moreau, Variety, 7 May 2023
  • There’s no judgment here on those who need to step away from soul-crushing updates in the name of self-preservation.
    Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2024
  • Therefore, for the sake of self-preservation, the Middle colonies and South Carolina chose the lesser of two evils.
    Time, 3 July 2023
  • About the importance of setting boundaries for the sake of self-preservation?
    Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Nov. 2023
  • Kenneth is a 38-year-old who’s led a very small, isolated life out of self-preservation.
    Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 14 June 2023
  • Sometimes not speaking out can be an act of self-preservation.
    Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024
  • But by 2021, leaving it had seemed a necessary form of self-preservation.
    Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2024
  • This is in line with the phenomena of self-care and self-preservation as opposed to selfishness.
    David Oliver, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Of resourceful self-preservation for the sake of self-preservation alone.
    Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic, 28 Nov. 2023
  • Her will—and maybe her capacity for self-preservation—had waned.
    Amory Rowe Salem and Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 9 Jan. 2024
  • But the hobby that started as a matter of self-preservation was becoming a side hustle.
    Liza Weisstuch, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2023
  • The self-preservation factor can’t be ignored and the fear of the unknown are hurdles to moving immediately to a nine-game SEC slate.
    Michael Casagrande | McAsagrande@al.com, al, 31 May 2023
  • For Cook, the decision to end new music releases on PC was almost an act of self-preservation.
    Ellise Shafer, Variety, 10 May 2024
  • What real or invented term could be used to describe this extreme form of self-preservation?
    The Week Staff, The Week, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Makers of new drugs or medical implants, such as hips or pacemakers, are speed averse out of self-preservation.
    IEEE Spectrum, 14 Mar. 2013
  • Instead, for most of their predators, spiders are a safe snack — a tame and tasty treat — rather than a threat, forcing spiders to follow some pretty strange strategies for self-preservation.
    Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 28 Mar. 2024
  • Congress should pass it on the basis of self-preservation alone; the justices lately have seemed all too happy to take over increasing shares of the other branches’ powers.
    New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 19 July 2024
  • There is beauty in surrendering to new rhythms in a new season of life, to choosing self-preservation over self-interest.
    Carola Lovering, Vogue, 5 Feb. 2024
  • Pedestrians scurried away with the typical aloofness New Yorkers adopt as a means of self-preservation.
    Keith Nelson, Men's Health, 1 Aug. 2023
  • Many China watchers speculated that the death of the news conference could be an attempt at self-preservation by the current premier, Li Qiang.
    Li Yuan, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024
  • People, in my view, reinforce their personal hypocrisy out of self-preservation.
    Stephanie Dillon, Rolling Stone, 5 Apr. 2024
  • Sending The Right Message During a recession, marketing investments and self-preservation aren’t the only things brands should have top of mind.
    Rebecca Kowalewicz, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2023
  • Toeing the line between authenticity and self-preservation, Mock takes us through her dating woes, roommate drama, and the glitz of being a rising star.
    Brea Baker, ELLE, 18 Aug. 2023
  • Then, maybe just maybe, the Los Angeles schools would have stayed loyal, Oregon and Washington wouldn’t have needed to seek self-preservation in the midwest, and the realignment dominoes wouldn’t have followed.
    Joe Freeman, oregonlive, 13 Sep. 2023
  • Since defensive attitudes are acts of self-preservation, creating a space where your employees feel safe enough to let their guard down is vital.
    Eugene Dilan, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
  • People are focused on self-preservation and not principle.
    Nbc Universal, NBC News, 13 Aug. 2023
  • Yet while Gray today is more about self-preservation than the wild nights of years past, Louder, Please is also, at points, a bracingly candid record, offering a diaristic account of the past few years of her life.
    Liam Hess, Vogue, 19 Sep. 2024
  • Ultimately, the film is a swan song for the ages, touching upon issues of self-preservation and sacrifice, confronting our darkest fears (or a lack thereof), and survival of the fittest — or in this somber depiction — the powerful and wealthy.
    Tiffany Leigh, Forbes, 12 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'self-preservation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: