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displacement activity
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noun Animal Behavior.
a behavior performed out of its usual context and apparently irrelevant to the prevailing situation, as eating when an unknown individual approaches, tending to occur when appropiate behaviors, as attacking or fleeing, are in conflict or obstructed.
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Origin of displacement activity
First recorded in 1945–50
Words nearby displacement activity
displace, displaced, displaced homemaker, displaced person, displacement, displacement activity, displacement current, displacement hull, displacement ton, displacement tonnage, displacer
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use displacement activity in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for displacement activity
displacement activity
noun
psychol behaviour that occurs typically when there is a conflict between motives and that has no relevance to either motive, e.g. head scratching
zoology the substitution of a pattern of animal behaviour that is different from behaviour relevant to the situation, e.g. preening at an apparently inappropriate time
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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