Definitions for atavistic
atavis·tic

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. atavistic, throwback(a)adjective

   characteristic of an atavist

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. atavisticadjective

   of the recurrence of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more generations due to a chance recombination of genes.

2. atavisticadjective

   of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism.

3. atavisticadjective

   relating to earlier, more primitive behavior that returns after an absence.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. atavistic

   In biology, an atavism is a modification of a biological structure whereby an ancestral genetic trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations. Atavisms can occur in several ways; one of which is when genes for previously existing phenotypic features are preserved in DNA, and these become expressed through a mutation that either knocks out the dominant genes for the new traits or makes the old traits dominate the new one. A number of traits can vary as a result of shortening of the fetal development of a trait (neoteny) or by prolongation of the same. In such a case, a shift in the time a trait is allowed to develop before it is fixed can bring forth an ancestral phenotype. Atavisms are often seen as evidence of evolution.In social sciences, atavism is the tendency of reversion. For example, people in the modern era reverting to the ways of thinking and acting of a former time. The word atavism is derived from the Latin atavus—a great-great-great-grandfather or, more generally, an ancestor.

How to pronounce atavistic?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say atavistic in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of atavistic in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of atavistic in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of atavistic in a Sentence

1. Antonin Artaud:

   It is almost impossible to be a doctor and an honest man, but it is obscenely impossible to be a psychiatrist without at the same time bearing the stamp of the most incontestable madness: that of being unable to resist that old atavistic reflex of the mass of humanity, which makes any man of science who is absorbed by this mass a kind of natural and inborn enemy of all genius.

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References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=atavistic
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Atavistic
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atavistic