atavic
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of atavic
1865–70; atav(ism) + -ic ( def. ), modeled on French atavique
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He is bound to those who follow him, and to the atavic influences which he possesses; he serves for their temporary resting-place, and he transmits them to his descendants.
From Degeneracy Its Causes, Signs and Results by Talbot, Eugene S.
With atavic cunning he sat upon the outside and waited for the triumph of death.
From The Man from Brodney's by McCutcheon, George Barr
The grandson of Erasmus Darwin had little appreciation of the views of him of whom, through atavic heredity, he was the intellectual and scientific child.
From Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution His Life and Work by Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
