Associations to the word «Atavistic»

Wiktionary

ATAVISTIC, adjective. (biology) of the recurrence of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more generations due to a chance recombination of genes.
ATAVISTIC, adjective. Of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism.
ATAVISTIC, adjective. Relating to earlier, more primitive behavior that returns after an absence.

Dictionary definition

ATAVISTIC, adjective. Characteristic of an atavist.

Wise words

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne