self-preservation en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˌsɛlfˌpɹɛzɜˈɹ.veɪ.ʃən/
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé? Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *selbaz Old English self Old English self- Middle English self- English self- English preservation English self-preservation From self- + preservation.
Meanings
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(uncountable) The instinctive behavior that protects oneself from harm.
Yet had the whole train and all its bombs gone, had the engine crew merely jumped from the train and run as simple self-preservation would have suggested, or unhitched just the engine to make their escape faster, the whole town would have gone and most of the people with it, leaving just a smoking wasteland. Hundreds would have died.
2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:I'm gonna love me, for the rest of my days / Encourage the babies every time they say / Self-preservation is what's really going on today
1976, Candi Staton, “Young Hearts Run Free”, in Young Hearts Run Free:I'm here to tell you want to do. And if self-preservation is an instinct you possess, you better fuckin' do it and do it quick.
1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel):
Translations (23)
pl instynkt samozachowawczy (self-preservation) · cmn 自我保護 /自我保护 (self-preservation) · fi itsesuojelu (self-preservation) · el αυτοσυντήρηση (self-preservation) · it autoconservazione (self-preservation) · ga féinchaomhnú (self-preservation) · de Selbsterhaltung (self-preservation) · sv självbevarelse (self-preservation) · lt savisauga (self-preservation) · ru самосохране́ние (self-preservation) · ab ахы́хьчара (self-preservation) · da selvopholdelsesdrift (self-preservation) · uk самозбере́ження (self-preservation) · cmn 自保 (self-preservation) · ja 自己保存 (self-preservation) · sv självbevarelsedrift (self-preservation) · hu önfenntartás (self-preservation) · de Selbsterhaltungstrieb (self-preservation) · nl zelfbehoud (self-preservation) · fr autoconservation (self-preservation) · da selvopholdelse (self-preservation) · bg самосъхранение (self-preservation) · cs sebezáchova (self-preservation)