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.

Instead, seno-differentiation appears to serve as a stress-triggered defense mechanism that removes damaged stem cells before they can become harmful.

From Science Daily • Oct. 25, 2025

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

Scientists believe that algae use bioluminescence as a defense mechanism — to scare off hungry sea creatures or call attention to their location, which draws the predators’ predators.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 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