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atavistic

[ at-uh-vis-tik ]
/ ˌæt əˈvɪs tɪk /
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adjective
of, relating to, or characterized by atavism; reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type.
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Origin of atavistic

First recorded in 1870–75; atav(ism) + -istic

OTHER 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. 2023

How to use atavistic in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for atavistic

atavistic
/ (ˌætəˈvɪstɪk) /

adjective
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

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.
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