Thesaurus: atavism

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Definitions

1. 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.
2. n. The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or two.
3. n. a reappearance of an earlier characteristic
4. (a) 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. (b) (Biol.) The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or two. Now and then there occur cases of what physiologists call atavism, or reversion to an ancestral type of character. J. Fiske
5. n:100 n. a reappearance of an earlier characteristic