Definition of atavisms Atavisms
We found 3 definitions of atavisms from 2 different sources.
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What does atavisms mean?
Wiktionary 
- atavisms (Noun)
Plural of atavism.
Part of speech
🔤- atavisms, noun, plural of atavism.
WordNet
NounPlural: atavisms |
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| atavism - a reappearance of an earlier characteristic | ||
| reversion, throwback | ||
| recurrence, return happening again (especially at regular intervals); "the return of spring" | ||
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Wiktionary
- atavism (Noun)
The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence. - atavism (Noun)
The recurrence or reversion to a past behaviour, method, characteristic or style after a long period of absence. - atavism (Noun)
Reversion to past primitive behavior, especially violence.
Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘
- atavism (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. - atavism (n.)
The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or two.
Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕
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atavism
at′av-izm, n. frequent appearance of ancestral, but not parental, characteristics in an animal or plant: reversion to an original type.—adj. At′avistic. [L. atavus—avus, a grandfather.]
Part of speech
🔤- atavism, noun, singular of atavisms.
