atavistical

English

Etymology

atavistic +‎ -al

Adjective

atavistical (comparative more atavistical, superlative most atavistical)

1. atavistic
   • 1914, Francis H. Buzzacott, Mystery of the Sexes: Secrets of Past and Future Human Creationism, page 39:

     Atavistical reversions: In biology the restoration of structural characters which have long been lost or obscured; near return to an original type occurring through partly modified descendants; resemblance to remote ancestors or progenitors; partial return, through hereditary influences, of remote ancestral forms.

   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 1, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

     All the legendry, of course, white and Indian alike, died down during the nineteenth century, except for occasional atavistical flareups.

   • 1996, Hilton Hotema, The Great Red Dragon, Health Research, page 44:

     Atavistical reversion may reach back to the very beginning of humanity, and some qualities of the first Great Mother may appear in the child of today.

Derived terms

• atavistically

Related terms

• atavism
• atavist

Translations

atavistic — see atavistic