What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Desire vs Instinct - What's the difference?

desire | instinct |

As nouns the difference between desire and instinct

is that desire is someone or something wished for while instinct is a natural or inherent impulse or behaviour.

As a verb desire

is to want; to wish for earnestly.

As an adjective instinct is

imbued, charged ({{term|with}} something).

desire

English

Verb

(desir)
  • To want; to wish for earnestly.
  • * Bible, Exodus xxxiv. 24
    • Neither shall any man desire thy land.
  • * Tennyson
    • Ye desire your child to live.
  • To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts XIII:
    • And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.
  • *
    • , title=The Mirror and the Lamp , chapter=2 citation , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired .}}
  • To want emotionally or sexually.
  • To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.
  • * Bible, 2 Kings iv. 28
    • Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord?
  • * Shakespeare
    • Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.
  • To require; to demand; to claim.
  • * Spenser
    • A doleful case desires a doleful song.
  • To miss; to regret.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (countable) Someone or something wished for.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}
  • (uncountable) Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.
  • (uncountable) Motivation.
  • (uncountable) The feeling of desire.

    • Synonyms

    * (one or thing wished for) wanna, want-to * (motivation) wanna, want-to

    See also

    * velleity

    Related terms

    * desirable * desirous

    Statistics

    *

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * * English control verbs

    instinct

    English

    (wikipedia instinct)

    Noun

  • A natural or inherent impulse or behaviour.
    • Many animals fear fire by instinct .
  • * Shakespeare
    • By a divine instinct , men's minds mistrust / Ensuing dangers.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1921 , title= , author=Bertrand Russell , passage=In spite of these qualifications, the broad distinction between instinct and habit is undeniable. To take extreme cases, every animal at birth can take food by instinct, before it has had opportunity to learn; on the other hand, no one can ride a bicycle by instinct, though, after learning, the necessary movements become just as automatic as if they were instinctive.}}
  • An intuitive reaction not based on rational conscious thought.
    • an instinct''' for order; to be modest by '''instinct
    Debbie's instinct was to distrust John.

    Derived terms

    * instinctively * instinctive

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (archaic) Imbued, charged ((with) something).
  • * Milton
    • The chariot of paternal deity / Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed / By four cherubic shapes.
  • * Brougham
    • a noble performance, instinct with sound principle
  • * 1928 , (HP Lovecraft), ‘The Call of Cthulhu’:
    • This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters.

    External links

    * * ----