instinctual

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Yermak was more a sort of instinctual negotiator…Budanov has his instincts, but I think he’s going to be much more punctilious about the preparations.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026

As Msrlyan grew up and the buildings and objects he’d once loved began to disappear, he said he felt an almost instinctual urge to try to preserve what was, if only for himself.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2025

“That’s an instinctual play,” Roberts said, praising Kim for reading catcher Drake Baldwin’s soft throw to first on a dropped third-strike that nearly changed the game.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2025

More than anything, he had an uncanny ability to tap into the instinctual and ephemeral—and an uncanny ability to make the personal resonate in universal ways.

From Salon • Jan. 29, 2025

He would come at it with a bang, deploying his deep understanding of chemistry, mathematics, and crystallography—but more important, his instinctual grasp of model building.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee