defense mechanism
Physiology. the defensive reaction of an organism, as against a pathogenic microorganism.
Psychology. an unconscious process, as denial, that protects an individual from unacceptable or painful ideas or impulses.
Origin of defense mechanism
1Words Nearby defense mechanism
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use defense mechanism in a sentence
They could reboot the body’s normal defense mechanisms, making the immune system see the enemy.
Triggering the Body’s Defenses to Fight Cancer - Issue 108: Change | Lina Zeldovich | November 3, 2021 | NautilusYour husband especially lit up the page, but you, your daughter and son-in-law also did to some degree, maybe reflecting learned behaviors or defense mechanisms.
Carolyn Hax: An estrangement, a new baby and a grandparent caught in the middle | Carolyn Hax | September 22, 2021 | Washington PostComing too close to a porcupine can make it agitated and nervous, and it may deploy its best defense mechanism—swinging its thickly quilled tail at you in the hopes of lodging a few spines into your skin.
How to not get pricked by a North American porcupine | Natalie Wallington | September 17, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThey prefer to make smaller gains over a shorter span of time to demonstrate that they are competent leaders, which is an understandable defense mechanism.
Take your campaigns to deeper levels by disrupting the peace | Max Braun | December 24, 2020 | Search Engine WatchTurning a bacterial defense mechanism into one of the most powerful tools in genetics has earned Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Gene-editing tool CRISPR wins the chemistry Nobel | Tina Hesman Saey | October 7, 2020 | Science News
But she was young, and she used work as a defense mechanism.
‘Matilda’ Star Mara Wilson Reviews ‘Matilda the Musical’ | Ramin Setoodeh | April 16, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTI think this is, among liberals anyway, a defense mechanism.
Michael Tomasky on Mitt Romney and the Magical Powers of a Lie | Michael Tomasky | April 10, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIs this a defense mechanism, a way of not quite looking at what my mother has become?
This Week’s Hot Reads: April 9, 2012 | Nicholas Mancusi, Malcolm Jones | April 9, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST“The hierarchy of things is a kind of defense mechanism that just alienates,” says Koons.
Jeff Koons: One of Today's 10 Most Important Artists | Blake Gopnik | June 5, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTHistorical myopia must be an evolutionary defense mechanism of the human species.
The crowds delusion of persecution, conspiracy, or oppression is thus a defense mechanism of this nature.
The Behavior of Crowds | Everett Dean MartinHe knew that he was merely a defense mechanism, to ward off fear: for, it wasn't true.
My Shipmate--Columbus | Stephen WilderI have said that the hostility of the crowd is a sort of "defense mechanism."
The Behavior of Crowds | Everett Dean MartinLate afternoon of the next day, my defense mechanism was ready.
The Telenizer | Don ThompsonThis small, rather weird-looking little creature had a dangerous defense mechanism in the spines of his back.
The Wailing Octopus | Harold Leland Goodwin
Cultural definitions for defense mechanism
In psychology, a Freudian term referring to an unconscious avoidance of something that produces anxiety or some other unpleasant emotion. For example, someone who blots out the memory of a terrible accident is using a defense mechanism. Regression and sublimation are common defense mechanisms.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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