Definition of Atavic

1. a. Pertaining to a remote ancestor, or to atavism.

Definition of Atavic

1. Adjective. ancestral, atavistic ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Atavic

1. pertaining to a remote ancestor [adj]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Atavic

ataractic
ataractic agent
ataractic drug
ataractics
ataraxia
ataraxias
ataraxic
ataraxics
ataraxies
ataraxis
ataraxy
ataries
atars
ataunto
atavaquone
atavic (current term)
atavism
atavisms
atavist
atavistic
atavistically
atavists
ataxia
ataxia-telangiectasia
ataxia cordis
ataxia of calves
ataxia of lambs
ataxia telangiectasia syndrome
ataxiadynamia
ataxiagram

Literary usage of Atavic

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri, William West Smithers, Joseph Ignatius Kelly, John Lisle (1917)
"atavic and evolutionary criminality. § 222. Objections to Theory of Defensive Penal Justice. It is well, however, to dispose forthwith of some of the ..."

2. The British and Foreign Medico-chirurgical Review, Or, Quarterly Journal of (1867)
"In this case it should be noticed that, in addition to limitation by age and sex, there is very strong evidence in favour of atavic transmission, ..."

3. A text-book of mental diseases: with special reference to the pathological by William Bevan Lewis (1899)
"To revert, however, to the recurrent form—the heredity observed in such subjects is more often atavic than direct—its frequent appearance in the collateral ..."

4. A Text-book of Psychiatry for Physicians and Students by Leonardo Bianchi (1906)
"The atypical characteristics are simple deviations from the ordinary type of the race; the atavic signs are reproductions of old forms that have disappeared ..."

5. Paragraph-writing: A Rhetoric for Colleges by Fred Newton Scott, Joseph Villiers Denny (1909)
"For printing such news the press is denounced for giving up so much space to " trash." (b) There are two forms of criminality, the atavic and evolutional. ..."

6. Stock-breeding: A Practical Treatise on the Applications of the Laws of by Manly Miles (1878)
"Mr. Sedgwick gays, " In the well-known case of George III., the insanity was transmitted in the male line, by atavic descent from a male ancestor, eight, ..."

7. Twentieth Century Practice: An International Encyclopedia of Modern Medical by Thomas Lathrop Stedman (1899)
"Hansen declares that the atavic transmission of physiological characters is not ... It is to be noted that all alleged cases of atavic inheritance have been ..."

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