Atavism
['ætəvɪzəm] or ['ætə,vɪzəm]
Definition
(n.) The recurrence, or a tendency to a recurrence, of the original type of a species in the progeny of its varieties; resemblance to remote rather than to near ancestors; reversion to the original form.
(n.) The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or two.
Checked by Brits
Definition
n. frequent appearance of ancestral but not parental characteristics in an animal or plant: reversion to an original type.—adj. At′avistic.
Typist: Rowland
Examples
- She was indeed, as her fellow Martian had said of her, an atavism; a dear and precious reversion to a former type of loved and loving ancestor. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- The thought that the divine Dejah Thoris might fall into the clutches of such an abysmal atavism started the cold sweat upon me. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- To which it may be added that not less equally have the nature of inheritance and the quality of atavism been exhibited in his extraordinary predilection for the miller's art. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- In our day we have progressed to a point where such sentiments mark weakness and atavism. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- The feminists too have their atavisms: not a few who object to the patriarchal family seem inclined to cure it by going back still more--to the matriarchal. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Typist: Montague