a natural or inherent way of acting or thinking
She had an instinct for the right word
an animal's largely inheritable tendency to respond in a particular way without reason
Instinct is inherited behaviour patterns, or skills, with motivations for rewards and fears for avoiding danger, though it is not in consciousness. It might be described as knowledge, gradually discovered by natural selection and stored in the genetic code. Although individual learning is not transmitted for inheritance, instinctive knowledge is — Professor Richard Gregory
instinctual /inʹstingkchooəl/ adj
[Middle English from Latin instinctus impulse, from instinguere to incite, from in-2 + stinguere to sting, goad]