atavistic
English
Etymology
From atavism + -istic, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French atavisme, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin atavus (“ancestor”), from at + avus (“grandfather”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /æt.əˈvɪs.tɪk/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪstɪk
Adjective
atavistic (comparative more atavistic, superlative most atavistic)
- (biology) of the recurrence of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more generations due to a chance recombination of genes.
- 1889, U.S. Office of Experiment Stations, Experiment Station Record
- Although the heterozygote gives it an atavistic appearance, the gene is not atavistic.
- 1946, Reginald Ruggles Gates, Human genetics:
- Thus the gene which produced atavistic digits in the vigorous heterozygous pentadactyl condition is a lethal monster in the homozygous condition.
- 2006, Roger E Stevenson, Judith G Hall, Human malformations and related anomalies
- Reactivation of a dormant atavistic gene could account for the abnormal costocoracoid ligament in humans.
- 1889, U.S. Office of Experiment Stations, Experiment Station Record
- of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism.
- 1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer:
- They made me feel that I was alive in the nineteenth century, a sort of atavistic remnant, a romantic shred…
- 1979, Norman Spinrad, A world between:
- The true perversion took place only in the privacy of her mind — the way she imagined an atavistic macho atop her when engaged in a mandatory contribution to the fetus-banks with some cretinous inept breeder…
- 2000, Steven Heller, Marshall Arisman, The education of an illustrator
- Because I am atavistic enough to believe that drawing is the basic language of the illustrator, even as words comprise the basic language of the writer…
- relating to earlier, more primitive behavior that returns after an absence.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations
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of a throwback
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of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior
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