defensiveness
de·fen·si·veness
noun
1.
excessive sensitivity to criticism
- “his defensiveness was manifested in hurt silence”
- “the fear of being sued for malpractice has magnified physicians”
Origin
From defensive + -ness.
Related words
Broader terms
Narrower terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.