In*stinc"tive (?), a. [Cf. F.
instinctif.] Of or pertaining to instinct; derived from,
or prompted by, instinct; of the nature of instinct; determined by
natural impulse or propensity; acting or produced without reasoning,
deliberation, instruction, or experience; spontaneous.
"Instinctive motion." Milton. "Instinctive
dread." Cowper.
With taste instinctive give
Each grace appropriate.
Mason.
Have we had instinctive intimations of the
death of some absent friends?
Bp. Hall.
&fist; The terms instinctive belief, instinctive
judgment, instinctive cognition, are expressions not ill
adapted to characterize a belief, judgment, or cognition, which, as
the result of no anterior consciousness, is, like the products of
animal instinct, the intelligent effect of (as far as we are
concerned) an unknown cause. Sir H. Hamilton.
Syn. -- Natural; voluntary; spontaneous; original; innate;
inherent; automatic.
