defensive attitude
- noun
- /dɪˈfɛnsɪv ˈætɪtjud/
:
actitud defensiva
- However, a student's unpleasant past experiences may cause that student to have a defensive attitude toward receiving even the most constructive comments.
Examples
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Unfortunately, students who have defensive attitudes lose out.
Academic text (1990) -
This defensive attitude has increased in recent years, largely in response to three related issues.
Academic text (2016) -
Further, such hostile and defensive attitudes are more likely to spread when others are rejoicing in their fall from grace.
Blog text (2) -
The behavior of the men may have been consistent with their ratings of women as managers, and the women were falsely perceiving a bias from their male peers, possibly because of the same defensive attitude that may also have been responsible for the very high scores when women rated women as managers.
Academic text (1990) -
Many people develop a defensive attitude when they feel criticized by others.
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Her defensive attitude made it difficult for her to accept constructive feedback.
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He approached the conversation with a defensive attitude, fearing he would be judged unfairly.
Synonyms
10
6.4
Feeling hurt by criticism and trying to protect yourself
2
7.9
A defensive, isolated attitude people develop after being criticized many times
1
6.9
A way of being careful and reserved about sharing personal thoughts or feelings
Antonyms
How Defensive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase simply combines 'defensive' (responding as if attacked) with 'attitude' (habitual way of thinking), so its meaning — a mindset of protecting oneself from criticism — is directly derivable from the parts. This compositional pattern is common across languages and in English, so a B1 learner who knows both words should readily understand it.
Etymology
Defensive attitude comes from the image of a person stepping back or raising a shield when someone points out a mistake; defensive means trying to protect and attitude means the way someone acts. So, the phrase describes acting to 'protect themselves' from criticism by making excuses or pushing back.