a gut feeling

gut feeling

An intuition or instinct, as opposed to an opinion based on a logical analysis. Jennifer's mother had a gut feeling that something was wrong when her daughter wasn't home by 10 o'clock.
See also: feeling, gut
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a gut feeling

COMMON If you have a gut feeling about something, you are sure you are right about it even though you cannot give reasons. I had a gut feeling that he was lying too.
See also: feeling, gut
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • gut feeling
  • gut instinct
  • go with (one's) gut
  • gut response
  • a gut reaction
  • gut reaction
  • gut reaction to (something)
  • gut reaction to something
  • my gut tells me
  • play (one's) hunch
References in periodicals archive
For a locust, that urge to join the crowd may literally be a gut feeling.
Bacteria make locust-swarm signal
I have, at times, regretted ignoring a gut feeling and I suspect that I am not done.
Letters