Instinctually

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Responding in a way that is driven by innate feelings or automatic urges rather than reasoned thought
2. Acting in accordance with an intrinsic sense or gut feeling that arises without conscious deliberation
3. Behaviors that arise from deep-seated natural inclinations or automatic responses rather than any form of rational consideration

Etymology: "Instinctually" is a plain formation: the adjective "instinctual" with the adverbial ending "-ly" added. The adjective is itself built from "instinct" with the suffix "-ual," which came into English through Latin "-ālis" and "-uālis," both meaning roughly "relating to" or "pertaining to." "Instinct" traces back to Latin "instinctus," meaning "impulse" or "urge," from the verb "instinguere," to incite or impel, and the base of that Latin word reaches back to the ancient root behind "-ly" as well, through Germanic. The ending "-ly" has an older history of its own. It descends from Old English "-līċe," a suffix attached to adjectives to turn them into adverbs, and before that from Proto-Germanic "-līkō," which carried the sense of "body" or "form," so that a word like "instinctually" literally describes acting in the form or manner of instinct. Over the centuries this suffix became so productive that English speakers can attach it to almost any adjective, including newer coinages.

Synonyms: intuitively, innately

Antonyms: learned, calculated