self-preservation

[ self-prez-er-vey-shuhn, self- ]

noun

1. preservation of oneself from harm or destruction.

self-preservation

noun

1. the preservation of oneself from danger or injury, esp as a basic instinct

Other Words From

• self-pre·serving adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-preservation¹

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

Consider those sacrifices a compromise in the name of self-preservation, he said.

From Salon

Or is something else happening; is the press manifesting an unadmitted genuflection to raw power, exercised arbitrarily, out of calculated self-preservation?

From Salon

Maybe it’s the lie that they didn’t mean for you to uncover, told under the premise of protecting you from some painful truth, but deep down executed with the utterly banal intention of self-preservation.

From Los Angeles Times

One might expect this to hurt his chances among Republican Jews, yet as historians explained to Salon, partisan loyalties may very well trump self-preservation among a substantial set of Jewish voters.

From Salon

The more I learn about the case of the hairdresser, Anna, the more I realise that denunciation isn’t solely a product of fear and self-preservation.

From BBC