death instinct

death instinct   n.   Psychiatry A primitive impulse for destruction, decay, and death, postulated by Sigmund Freud as coexisting with and opposing the life instinct. Also called Thanatos.

Main Entry: death instinct
Function: noun
: an innate and unconscious tendency toward self-destruction postulated in psychoanalytic theory to explain aggressive anddestructive behavior not satisfactorily explained by the pleasure principle called also Thanatos; —compare EROS

death instinct n.
A primitive impulse for destruction, decay, and death, manifested by a turning away from pleasure, postulated by Sigmund Freud as coexisting with and opposing the life instinct. Also called Thanatos.