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atavistic

[at-uh-vis-tik]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR atavistic ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of, relating to, or characterized by atavism; reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type.

RELATED WORDS

simple, naive, rudimentary, underdeveloped, unsophisticated, undeveloped, savage, natural, barbarian, raw, animal, wild, rough, austere, barbarous, childlike, fierce, ignorant, rude, uncivilized

Nearby words

  1. ataturk, kemal,
  2. atatürk,
  3. atatürk, kemal,
  4. atavic,
  5. atavism,
  6. ataxia,
  7. ataxia telangiectasia,
  8. ataxiaphasia,
  9. ataxic,
  10. ataxic abasia

Origin of atavistic

First recorded in 1870–75; atav(ism) + -istic
Related formsat·a·vis·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for atavistic

British Dictionary definitions for atavistic

atavistic

adjective

of or relating to reversion to a former or more primitive type
Derived Formsatavistically, 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
Word Origin and History for atavistic

atavistic

adj.

"pertaining to atavism," 1847; see atavism + -ic.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Science definitions for atavistic

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.