defense mechanism

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A stingray’s defense mechanism is to camouflage itself on top of the ocean floor’s sand or buried under it.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2025

For Divon, Pallywood is less a conspiracy theory than a psychological defense mechanism.

From Slate • May 30, 2025

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids likely first evolved as a defense mechanism in plants, which then became a commodity for moths.

From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2024

"There is no other vegetable with a defense mechanism that if you attack it, it will spit sulfuric acid in your eyes."

From Salon • Mar. 11, 2024

The therapist Mark and Linda made him see had called it a defense mechanism, and Joaquin thought that sounded exactly like something that someone who never needed a defense mechanism would say.

From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway