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

The cynical will note that fundamentalist charismatics do have some sense of self-preservation.

From The Daily Beast

One motivation for Republicans might be self-preservation alone.

From The Daily Beast

Traditionally, people who make their living giving and taking punches have not paid much heed to the law of self-preservation.

From The Daily Beast

Could Jagger and the Stones pull off a similar feat of reinvention and self-preservation?

From The Daily Beast

But I can't picture Bush or Obama telling such a lie for pure self-preservation reasons.

From The Daily Beast

Like a hurt animal, half crawling, knowing only the base instinct of self preservation, he tried for that delivery alleyway.

From Project Gutenberg

Self-interest and self-preservation dictated many laws which secured the welfare of society.

From Project Gutenberg

They are made from the instinct of self-preservation, from patriotic aspirations, from the necessities of civilization.

From Project Gutenberg

But Brodrick's family, by the sheer instinct of self-preservation, was awake to everything that concerned it.

From Project Gutenberg

She was still an unknown and uncharted land to him, to which at times the instinct of self-preservation blindly inclined him.

From Project Gutenberg