Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
WordNet
n. (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires [syn: defense mechanism, defense reaction, defence reaction, defense, defence]
Usage examples of "defence mechanism".
It could be a defence mechanism indicating that she was aware of a progressive illness she wants to block out.
He found himself thinking about Jackie again, a kind of defence mechanism when the going got tough.
The human body is no fool but these days it's a little old-fashioned : the defence mechanism set up to dodge the swing of a dinosaur's tail is less effective when life or death depends on the position of a needle on 4 speedometer.
The sonic assault could have been a natural defence mechanism, and an effective one, at that.
That meant that the defence mechanism-or at least part of it-still worked.
With her natural defence mechanism she can conduct a telepathic surveillance of the Supermutant without any risk whatsoever of him forcing her under his hypnotic spell.
Back too came self-ridicule and every defence mechanism under the sun.
She couldn't use her normal defence mechanism, make a joke of it, she just couldn't.
You have to have fucking feelings before detachment becomes a self-defence mechanism.
I felt I should be polite to her, listen to what she was saying, but what she could never know was the resistance that lay deep inside me, the unconscious defence mechanism a kid builds up for himself when he has been rejected.