Word.ws English Dictionary

defense mechanism

defense mechanism noun: a psychological strategy used unconsciously by people to cope with harmful or stressful situations.

Noun

defense mechanism (plural defense mechanisms)

  1. (US) A psychological strategy used unconsciously by people to cope with harmful or stressful situations.
  2. (US, evolutionary theory) An automatic reaction of the body against foreign antibodies.

defense mechanism meaning in Tamil

defense mechanism in Tamil

எதிர்ப்பு நுட்பம்

Forms of defense mechanism

pluraldefense mechanisms
alternative formdefence mechanism

Origin of defense mechanism

Calque of German Abwehrmechanismus, a concept in the Freudian model.

Questions about defense mechanism

What does defense mechanism mean?
Defense mechanism means a psychological strategy used unconsciously by people to cope with harmful or stressful situations.
What is defense mechanism in Tamil?
Defense mechanism in Tamil is எதிர்ப்பு நுட்பம். See Defense mechanism meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is defense mechanism?
Defense mechanism is a noun.
What is the plural of defense mechanism?
The plural of defense mechanism is defense mechanisms.

Words near defense mechanism in the dictionary

  1. defense attorneys
  2. defense in abatement
  3. defense in depth
  4. defense lawyer
  5. defense lawyers
  6. defense mechanism
  7. defense mechanisms
  8. defense wound
  9. defense wounds
  10. defense-independent pitching statistics
  11. defensed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defense mechanism (page history and authors); defense mechanism (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “defense mechanism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defense_mechanism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.