atavisticadj.
/atəˈvɪstɪk/ Of or pertaining to atavism; atavic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [adjective] > production unlike parents > atavism
atavic1866
reversional1871
reversionary1871
atavistic1875
1875 N. Amer. Rev. 120 275 The social and the atavistic influence.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xxvi. 108 Some atavistic inheritance of the cave-dweller.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvii. [Ithaca] 645 The sporadic reappearance of atavistic delinquency.
1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief v. 168 Was it some atavistic sense of a caste, an instinct of superiority, that held him aloof?
Derivatives
ataˈvistically adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [adverb] > atavism
atavistically1884
1884 N. Amer. Rev. Sept. 253 The ancient types crop out atavistically.
1898 E. P. Evans Evol. Ethics i. 33 The lower classes..reflect atavistically the ideas and passions of primitive man.
1926 Blackwood's Mag. Apr. 446/2 Some of them bolted atavistically up the nearest tree.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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adj.1875