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
1First recorded in 1915–20
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use death instinct in a sentence
Next week, when his own new book, The death instinct, comes out, he may find that it serves him to speak.
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