Lexic.us

Definition of Death instinct

1. Noun. (psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die.

Medical Definition of Death instinct

1. The instinct of all living creatures toward self-destruction, death, or a return to the inorganic lifelessness from which they arose. Synonym: aggressive instinct. (05 Mar 2000)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Death Instinct

Literary usage of Death instinct

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916 by Olga Metchnikoff (1921)
"Unpleasant incidents—The fabrication of lacto-bacilli—St. Legeren- Yvelines—Return to Paria—First cardiac attack—Evolution of the death-instinct—Notes on ..."

2. A Few Kind Words about Hate: The Dark Side of Family Life and the Bible by Una Stannard (2007)
"Freud postulated that we're born with a death instinct (in addition to a life instinct). He was wrong. At conception the life instinct is wholly a creative ..."

3. Rudolf Eucken's Philosophy of Life by William Ralph Boyce Gibson (1907)
"Science can instruct us so to lengthen out our days as to give this death-instinct time to mature. We shall then subside into the nothingness that awaits us ..."

4. Elementary Psychology ; Or, First Principles of Mental and Moral Science by Daniel Putnam (1889)
"... through their mistakes, leads one animal to fly from imaginary danger, and another to certain death. Instinct and Exercise. — Modifications of Instinct. ..."

5. French Literature of To-day: A Study of the Principal Romancers and Essayists by Yetta Blaze de Bury (1898)
"But days rubbed away the sorrow, and augmented the wish for pleasure. She gave way: the result was early death. Instinct had been at the bottom of ..."

6. A Text-book of Psychology for Secondary Schools by Daniel Putnam (1901)
"... through their mistakes, leads one animal to fly from imaginary danger and another to rush to certain death. Instinct appears Early. ..."

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