From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgut reaction/feeling/instinctgut reaction/feeling/instinctinformalINSTINCT a reaction or feeling that you are sure is right, although you cannot give a reason for itHe had a gut feeling that Sarah was lying. →gutExamples from the Corpusgut reaction/feeling/instinct• I have a gut feeling that the old partnerships between nature and culture have momentarily slipped out of our reach.• It was just a gut feeling, a sense of unease.• It is more a gut feeling-a visceraldistrust of foreigners.• For the ordinaryviewer, logicalargument gives way to his or her gut reactions and personal experience in responding to people.• But my gut reaction was that, despite his reputation for being hottempered, he was a friendly, likable child.• Personal reflections My gut reaction has always been against the placing of bolts, and I've never used them.• We worked on gut feeling and it was very difficult to control and manage all the development work because of the technology involved.• Malespeaker There's gut feeling amongst the officers on the ground that it may be drugs related.