death instinct

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of death instinct¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Again, Trump is dominated by the death instinct which includes pleasure in being destructive.

From Salon

The Greeks, like Sigmund Freud, grasped that war is the purist expression of the death instinct, the desire to exterminate all systems of life, including, ultimately, our own.

From Salon

Nations in terminal decline embrace, as Sigmund Freud understood, the death instinct.

From Salon

When I was younger, I was really into Freud, and the entry point for me was an interest in what he calls “the death instinct.”

From Los Angeles Times

A cult is really about the death instinct.

From Salon