MEANING
Resembling a reappearance of traits associated with earlier ancestors or a more remote ancestral condition.
Use it for
A body displaying an unexpected ancestral feature; a narrator imagining regression; an old impulse returningName the proposed ancestral connection rather than treating unfamiliar anatomy as primitive by default.
Words that belong together
- atavistic trait
- atavistic impulse
- atavistic resemblance
On the page
The biologist described the extra structure as an atavistic trait.
His atavistic impulse was to bite rather than call for help.
The story framed the transformation as atavistic, though its narrator could not prove the lineage.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- atavistic
Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Biological and figurative uses differ; do not equate ancestry or cultural identity with inferiority. In horror, a supposed ancestral return is a narrative interpretation, not automatic evolutionary fact. Adjective; comparison: more atavistic, most atavistic. Derived/related family (not inflections): atavism (noun).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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