atavistic
/æt.əˈvɪs.tɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.14 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of the recurrence of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more generations due to a chance recombination of genes.
adj
Of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism.
Example Sentences
- "Although the heterozygote gives it an atavistic appearance, the gene is not atavistic."
- "Thus the gene which produced atavistic digits in the vigorous heterozygous pentadactyl condition is a lethal monster in the homozygous condition."
- "Reactivation of a dormant atavistic gene could account for the abnormal costocoracoid ligament in humans."
- "They made me feel that I was alive in the nineteenth century, a sort of atavistic remnant, a romantic shred […]"
- "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…"
- "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…"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin at- Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os Latin avus Latin atavus Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)bor. Latin -ismusbor. French -isme French atavismebor. English atavism ▲ Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English -istic English atavistic From atavism + -istic.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /æt.əˈvɪs.tɪk/
- British English: /æt.əˈvɪs.tɪk/
Inflected Forms
more atavistic (comparative)
most atavistic (superlative)