How to Use defense mechanism in a Sentence

defense mechanism

noun
  • She is projecting her anger on you as a defense mechanism.
  • She's been through a lot in her life and put up walls as a defense mechanism.
    — Marie Claire, 2 Aug. 2021
  • My sense of humor is kind of born out of a self-defense mechanism.
    — Marcus Jones, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2019
  • The kind that with a turn of the head became a self-defense mechanism.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Oct. 2020
  • While some of the effects can be dire, the ocean does have some defense mechanisms in place.
    — Devika Rao, theweek, 10 Oct. 2024
  • It can even be seen as a defense mechanism in some circumstances.
    — Lindsay Kohler, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025
  • Mark loves to be thought of as untouchable, but that’s a defense mechanism.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Acrylic Tubs Acrylic doesn’t have many defense mechanisms against wear and tear.
    — Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 7 Oct. 2024
  • Tourist guides say, with a flourish, that the metal rings were a defense mechanism against tigers who went for the neck.
    — New York Times, 5 Dec. 2020
  • Part of the issue involved the grapevines’ own defense mechanism.
    — Nicola Twilley, New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2026
  • Hatching seemed to be the frogs’ broad-spectrum defense mechanism.
    — Suzie Hodges, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Sep. 2022
  • Odor is a botanical defense mechanism as much as thistles and thorns.
    — Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 21 Mar. 2026
  • Stress is one of evolution’s greatest tricks and our brain’s best defense mechanism.
    — Jeff Stibel, USA TODAY, 12 June 2018
  • Stink bugs are part of an insect family that uses smell as a defense mechanism.
    — Natalie Schumann, Country Living, 14 June 2022
  • Other sea slugs that eat poisonous sponges store that poison in their bodies to use as a defense mechanism.
    — Rose Eveleth, WIRED, 31 Dec. 2022
  • Which is the body's defense mechanism, but also a good lesson in taking you out of your comfort zone.
    — Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Oct. 2019
  • Yes, female carpenter bees will sting you as a defense mechanism.
    — Tiffany Acosta, The Arizona Republic, 13 May 2024
  • For us by us The framers saw impeachment as a defense mechanism, not a punitive one.
    — Ephrat Livni, Quartz, 14 Dec. 2019
  • But instead of ejecting evil spirits from their body, the creatures puke their guts out as a defense mechanism.
    — Corryn Wetzel, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Oct. 2020
  • Its venom, delivered through grooved teeth, serves both as a defense mechanism and as a means to subdue prey.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 14 Sep. 2024
  • Some cockroaches can even fly, while others can squirt out fluid as a defense mechanism.
    — Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 17 Dec. 2022
  • This was, of course, a defense mechanism, secured with much false bravado and nervous laughter.
    — Sylvia Poggioli, The New York Review of Books, 29 Mar. 2020
  • As a defense mechanism, an owner who knows how her phone works can prevent this by simply avoiding eye contact.
    — Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, 1 Oct. 2018
  • Even well-meaning input can trigger the brain’s defense mechanisms.
    — Dr. Diane Hamilton, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025
  • Or is this all a defense mechanism for the heir apparent to the Eagan empire?
    — Josh Wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Feb. 2025
  • And the body's first reaction to any unnatural cell death is to start a defense mechanism.
    — Kristen Jordan Shamus, USA Today, 19 May 2025
  • In certain people, this sets off a response from the immune system, the body's defense mechanism.
    — Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2025
  • Saponins are commonly found in plants as an antimicrobial defense mechanism, and they are used to fend off pathogens such as fungi.
    — Wired, 14 July 2022
  • Those antibodies and immune cells are the defense mechanism the body uses to attack the virus.
    — Tribune News Service, oregonlive, 26 Jan. 2021
  • Araújo says that she’s recently realized that part of why she’s leaned into rage-bait content is as a defense mechanism.
    — Taylor Lorenz, Rolling Stone, 28 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'defense mechanism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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