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atavism
(redirected from atavist)

    Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
atavism /at·a·vism/ (at´ah-vizm) apparent inheritance of a characteristic from remote rather than immediate ancestors.atavis´tic
at·a·vism (t-vzm)
n.
The appearance of characteristics that are presumed to have been present in some remote ancestor; reversion to an earlier biological type.
ata·vist n.
ata·vistic adj.
atavism
[at′əviz′əm]
Etymology: L, atavus, ancestor
the appearance in an individual of traits or characteristics more like those of a grandparent or earlier ancestor than of the parents. Atavistic data may offer clues to an examining physician of genetic or familial health factors. atavistic, adj.
Atavism
Any of a number of normally dormant traits—e.g., the presence in humans of multiple nipples, appearance of vestigial hind limbs in whales, or possibly hereditary hypertrichosis in humans
atavism [at´ah-vizm]
apparent inheritance of characters from remote ancestors. adj., adj atavis´tic.
atavism
apparent inheritance of characters from remote ancestors, caused by recessive genes. Called also 'throwback'.
atavism
Any of a number of normally dormant traits–eg, the presence in humans of multiple nipples, appearance of vestigial hind limbs in whales, or possibly hereditary hypertrichosis in humans
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Rather, in which the ex-anchor came across as just the sort of trudging atavist his critics have always suspected, slumping around with a Mets cap pulled over his eyes.
Dan Rather Packs, Leaving CBS News; Black Rock Blinks by Rebecca Dana / The New York Observer
1974 HARVARD LAW SCHOOL YEARBOOK 211 ("The Rehnquist Club, spiritual Valhalla of atavists and revanchists everywhere, entered its second triumphant year at Harvard F.
The conservative influence of the federalist society on the Harvard ... by Hicks, George W., Jr. / Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
While Spenser and Davies largely suppress these reflexive ironies unsettling the Roman critique of barbarism (a matter to which we shall return), in virtually every other respect they depict (no pun intended) the Irish as atavists of the northern European barbarians found in Caesar and Tacitus.
Irishmen, aristocrats, and other white barbarians by Shuger, Debora / Renaissance Quarterly
 
 
 
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