Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Protection of oneself from harm or destruction.
- noun The instinct for individual preservation; the innate desire to stay alive.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The preservation of one's self from destruction or injury.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The preservation of one's self from destruction or injury.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
instinctive behaviour thatprotects oneself fromharm .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun preservation of yourself from harm; a natural or instinctive tendency
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The crimes of the secular state in the name of self-preservation must make us yearn for strong correctives to capitalist parliamentarian incarnations of democracy.
Feisal G. Mohamed: Evaluating the Post-Secular Return to Belief Feisal G. Mohamed 2011
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The crimes of the secular state in the name of self-preservation must make us yearn for strong correctives to capitalist parliamentarian incarnations of democracy.
Feisal G. Mohamed: Evaluating the Post-Secular Return to Belief Feisal G. Mohamed 2011
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She clasped her forearm in her hand, squeezing with all her might in order to keep herself in check—to keep herself from lashing out in the name of self-preservation.
Pure Sin Kate Brian 2010
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It may be one of the consequences of our at-large voting system - it may also be apathy or willful ignorance in the name of self-preservation - but chances are you've never heard of most of the candidates running for mayor and council in the Vancouver civic election.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed STEPHEN QUINN 2011
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It had been many years since he’d felt any hesitation at all about killing anyone, but he was conscious of having to deliberately keep reminding himself that in the name of self-preservation he had to kill her.
Shameless KAREN ROBARDS 2010
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It had been many years since he’d felt any hesitation at all about killing anyone, but he was conscious of having to deliberately keep reminding himself that in the name of self-preservation he had to kill her.
Shameless KAREN ROBARDS 2010
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It's called self-preservation - we're born with it.
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So the Republican side had a mood of self-preservation, a sense that they would be loyal to the White House in their fashion.
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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It could be that religious believers deign to tolerate other religions purely for self-preservation, calculating that since no single religion has majority status it is best to grant a full measure of liberty to other faiths, to ensure maximum liberty for oneself.
American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010
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So the Republican side had a mood of self-preservation, a sense that they would be loyal to the White House in their fashion.
The Good Fight Walter F. Mondale 2010
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