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Synonyms

death instinct

American  

noun

  1. suicidal tendency or inclination; predisposition to self-destruction.

  2. Psychoanalysis. an impulse to withdraw or destroy, working in opposition to forces urging survival and creation life instinct.

Etymology

Origin of death instinct

First recorded in 1915–20

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.