self-preservation

self- +‎ preservation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsɛlfˌpɹɛzɜˈɹ.veɪ.ʃən/

self-preservation (uncountable)

1. The instinctive behaviour that protects oneself from harm.
   • 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

     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.