"display of defiance" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to describe a statement or behavior that indicates someone is refusing to obey, accept or yield to something. For example: He made a defiant display by refusing to answer the questions.
His black compatriots were aghast at his display of defiance.
To Downing Street, the public statement from the BBC governors was just another display of defiance.
It was her individual courage that triggered the collective display of defiance that turned a previously unknown 26-year-old preacher, Martin Luther King, into a household name.
The women began identifying themselves in a display of defiance that academics hailed as an important new development in the women's rights movement.
Turnbull attempted during the session to shrug off Kelly's display of defiance, declaring he was "proud to enter into agreement on behalf of Australia".
As he entered the courtroom dressed in a dark suit, Mr. Breivik offered a display of defiance, delivering a clenched-fist salute with his right arm thrust rigidly from his body, but then shook hands with court officers.
Official confirmation appeared to have been delayed until after the anniversary on Tuesday, when the government was on guard against any displays of defiance.
Family members of those killed in the 9/11 attacks have expressed anger over displays of defiance shown by the alleged plotters during an arraignment hearing at Guantánamo Bay.
On July 1st hundreds of thousands of residents marched through the streets of the territory in one of the largest displays of defiance since the city's reversion to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
The group, which has sponsored 18 trips to Iraq, was formed to oppose sanctions and has made its trips to Iraq public displays of defiance, saying the dangerous nation is not Iraq, but the United States.
They did not call for cancellation of the race, but it was one of the biggest displays of defiance yet to the ruling members of Bahrain's Khalifa family, undercutting their portrayal of Formula One's return as a reaffirmation of their legitimacy and an event that would unite the country.
