How to Use fight-or-flight in a Sentence

fight-or-flight

adjective
  • When you’re stressed, your body gets ready to enter fight-or-flight mode.
    Addison Aloian, Women's Health, 21 Apr. 2023
  • Snapped out of modern-day fight-or-flight mode, I was primed for smoother sleep despite the jet lag.
    Juliet Kinsman, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Mar. 2024
  • The panic attack fight-or-flight response is well-known to me.
    Alice Bradley, Health, 9 Mar. 2023
  • If fight-or-flight fails, the instinct to feign death kicks in as an attempt to forestall the danger.
    Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 14 May 2024
  • Long-term stress can mean our fight-or-flight response does its thing on a hair trigger.
    Eleanor Morgan, refinery29.com, 12 Apr. 2023
  • This is the hormone that triggers the fight-or-flight response which helps the body better cope with real or perceived threats.
    James Myhre & Dennis Sifris, Md, Verywell Health, 3 Sep. 2024
  • Stress can also slow digestion because when you're stressed, the body's fight-or-flight response kicks in.
    Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 9 Aug. 2023
  • Those alarms trigger the grownup’s fight-or-flight response and raise the odds that adult and child will enter a co-escalation cycle of doom.
    Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Even normal stuff, like a bus backfiring or a balloon popping, can send her into fight-or-flight mode.
    Amelia Harnish, Women's Health, 5 June 2023
  • The sympathetic nervous system is part of your body's fight-or-flight response.
    Cathy Cassata, Health, 29 July 2023
  • Since fight-or-flight mode can cause your thoughts to race, grounding techniques can help your mind and body connect with the present moment and reset, Dr. Albers-Bowling says.
    Maggie O'Neill, SELF, 31 Mar. 2023
  • When this occurs, your body triggers a fight-or-flight response that involves a boost of adrenaline and an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
    Anna Giorgi, Verywell Health, 29 July 2024
  • This can trigger the sympathetic nervous system and send your body into fight-or-flight mode.
    Maggie O'Neill, SELF, 31 Mar. 2023
  • The technique involves tensing and releasing different body parts, which helps quell stress by forcing your body out of fight-or-flight mode.
    Alice Oglethorpe, SELF, 10 May 2024
  • Could this be a pheochromocytoma — a usually benign tumor that causes the adrenal glands to produce too much of the fight-or-flight hormones?
    Lisa Sanders, M.d., New York Times, 9 Mar. 2023
  • That particular sequence provides a good early test of your fight-or-flight instincts.
    Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2023
  • The booming sounds can be perceived as a threat and trigger dogs' fight-or-flight response, according to Veterinary Specialists of the Rockies.
    Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 3 July 2023
  • Naturally, some people will go to great lengths to avoid triggering such fight-or-flight (or freeze) responses.
    Alex Orlando, Discover Magazine, 31 Oct. 2023
  • The harmonies of the forest resonate deeply within us, soothing our fight-or-flight instincts, melting away stress and guiding us toward serenity.
    Gen Cleary, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2023
  • His body was still in fight-or-flight mode, overwhelmed by the incomprehensible explosion.
    The Arizona Republic, 14 Jan. 2024
  • Phobias exists on the extreme tail-end of fear, manifesting as absolute, fight-or-flight horror.
    Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 2 Mar. 2023
  • For some budding musicians (and even old pros), the very sight of sheet music can elicit a fight-or-flight response, bringing up painful memories of strict piano teachers and high-pressure recitals.
    Tristan Geary, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2024
  • Things escalate when a starving Samuel and Nolan are confronted with a tense fight-or-flight catalyst involving the family dog.
    Courtney Howard, Variety, 17 Sep. 2024
  • Hoping that helped explain some of Camilleri's symptoms, Verma prescribed some heart medicines that dilate blood vessels and others to dampen that fight-or-flight response.
    Lauran Neergaard The Associated Pres, Arkansas Online, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Booming sounds can be trigger dogs' fight-or-flight response, according to Veterinary Specialists of the Rockies.
    Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 4 July 2024
  • Our cognitive system responds to pressures with a process called allostasis, which senses threats to our well-being and fires off fight-or-flight responses to disarm them.
    Gabriela Riccardi, Quartz, 21 Apr. 2023
  • When an emergency happens, you’re propelled instantly to that fight-or-flight zone, which involves clarity of thinking.
    Jen Chaney, Vulture, 2 Apr. 2024
  • It is released by the body's adrenal glands and triggers the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which controls the body's natural fight-or-flight response to physical stressors and dangers.
    Laura Schober, Health, 11 July 2024
  • Together, these two stress hormones (and some neurotransmitters) coordinate to optimize the flow of blood sugar to the brain, and, in turn, carry out the fight-or-flight mechanics in the physical body.
    Tree Meinch, Discover Magazine, 13 Feb. 2023
  • Excessive noise — even generally — is disruptive to the health and well-being of children, research shows, and medical experts say the sound of gunfire, which could elicit a fight-or-flight response, may be even worse.
    Emily Baumgaertner, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fight-or-flight.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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