atavistic
of, relating to, or characterized by atavism; reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type.
Origin of atavistic
1Other words from atavistic
- at·a·vis·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Words Nearby atavistic
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use atavistic in a sentence
This is because puzzles train us to be more rigorous thinkers, less swayed by atavistic emotions.
Sitting face to face with a Satmar man schooling her in atavistic Satmar rules was the last place she wanted to be.
How One Sex Abuse Case Tore Apart the Williamsburg Hasidim | Allison Yarrow | August 8, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThese councils have been seeking amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act to support their atavistic views.
India’s Fatal Rape Was Typical in a Country That Degrades Women | Anuradha Roy | January 2, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe anxiety over immigrants is partly rational, partly atavistic.
These atavistic triggers, however, aren't very satisfying explanations taken alone.
This return to something more primitive is an unhealthy atavistic tendency and makes for both racial and individual inferiority.
The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races | Sanger Brown, IIDeering was very human and fought against an atavistic shrinking from the dark and loneliness.
Northwest! | Harold BindlossMy spine, too, like Conlon's, registered an authentic shiver of protest and atavistic fear.
The Book of Susan | Lee Wilson DoddWar is old--atavistic, a confession of failure, evidence of retrogression.
Class of '29 | Orrie Lashin and Milo HastingsThe probability, in this case, is that the atavistic variety will find its way into a pie, instead of being kept as a pet.
Stories of the Universe: Animal Life | B. Lindsay
British Dictionary definitions for atavistic
/ (ˌætəˈvɪstɪk) /
of or relating to reversion to a former or more primitive type
Derived forms of atavistic
- atavistically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for atavistic
[ ăt′ə-vĭs′tĭk ]
Relating to an inherited trait that reappears in an individual after being absent from a strain of organism for several generations. Atavistic traits were formerly thought to be throwbacks to ancestral types but are now known to be due to the inheritance of a pair of recessive genes.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse