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Defense mechanism

noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A psychological strategy used unconsciously by people to cope with harmful or stressful situations. US
  2. 2
    (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires wordnet
  3. 3
    An automatic reaction of the body against foreign antibodies. US

Etymology

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

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