Definition of "self-protective" []

• Serving or designed to protect oneself. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Two hours come and go, and the self-protective defiance many of the girls had brought with them transforms into extraordinary honesty—heartache and fear laid bare."
• "And regarding the former, it may be brave souls like Susan Boyle, with her obvious self-protective armament on display as she exchanges banter with the three judges, who shatter the boundaries by their sheer will and their enormous gifts."
• "In an effort to be self-protective, many wounded people try to fool themselves and others, constructing elaborate facades that bear little resemblance to the truth."