gut instinct
Feeling without reasoning
Gut instinct is a strong feeling about something that comes without conscious reasoning—an immediate sense of what's right or true.
The gut here is the belly, treated as a seat of intuition separate from the rational mind: My gut instinct told me not to trust him.
Often shortened to just gut: What does your gut say?
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- inner voiceUnspoken mental dialogue
- hunchUnproven inner sense
- feelingSensed inner state
- funny feelingIntuitive unease without cause
bad feeling · sixth sense · visceral · stomach · premonition · red flag · inkling · sensation · knowing · first impression · snap judgment · suspicion · vibes · foreboding · impulse · knee jerk · reflex · animal
- gut feelingsgut feeling, gut reaction, hunch, intuition, sixth sense
- decisionschoice, make a decision, choices, yes, no
- instinctsprimal urge, fight-or-flight, fight or flight, self-preservation, inherited traits
- body idiomsheart of gold, heart of stone, cold heart, warm heart, soft heart
- inner selfself, soul, psyche, inner being, true self
- gutintestine, small intestine, large intestine, colon, bowel
gut instinctlogical reasoning
Structured thought process
evidence-based reasoning · deductive reasoning · inductive reasoning · critical thinking · scientific method
gut instinctsecond-guessing
Reconsidering a decision made
overthinking · paralysis by analysis · deliberation · logical reasoning · reflective thought
gut instinctempirical evidence
Proof from measurable observation
factual basis · expert opinion · statistical analysis · research findings · peer review
guts, gutted, gutting, gutsy, gutsier, gutsiest, instinct, instincts, instinctive