What is another word for atavism?

Pronunciation: [ˈate͡ɪvˌɪzəm] (IPA)

Atavism refers to the reappearance of a genetic trait that was thought to have been lost or extinct for several generations. However, there are other synonyms for atavism that can be used interchangeably in different contexts. For instance, the term regression implies the reappearance of traits from past stages of development. Throwback is also another synonym that captures the atavistic phenomenon. Similarly, reversion and throwback are often used to imply the regaining of ancestral traits or characteristics. Lastly, the term anachronism refers to things that belong to a past era, and such things can reappear in different ways. Overall, the use of these synonyms can help to elucidate the complexity of the atavistic phenomenon in different settings.

Synonyms for Atavism:

What are the hypernyms for Atavism?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.

What are the hyponyms for Atavism?

Hyponyms are more specific words categorized under a broader term, known as a hypernym.

What are the opposite words for atavism?

Atavism refers to the genetic reversion to ancestral traits or characteristics. Antonyms for this word include modernism, progressiveness, novelty, innovation, and advancement. Modernism refers to a current movement that embraces contemporary values and concerns, while progressiveness suggests a forward-thinking perspective that seeks change and improvement. Novelty implies something new and original, while innovation represents a fresh approach to solving problems. Advancement is the state of improvement, development, and progress. These antonyms contrast with atavism, which suggests a return to ancient, primitive ways. The opposite of atavism is a contemporary, forward-thinking, and progressive approach.

What are the antonyms for Atavism?

Usage examples for Atavism

But the traces of this exquisite atavism were now almost concealed in the supreme modernity of her attire.
"Muslin"
George Moore
Now Ma had not gone wild all at once; her atavism had been gradual-the result of her persistent explorations.
"Flowing Gold"
Rex Beach
Lydia, notably, remained imbued with this sentiment of another age, by a kind of moral ancestral reversion which served as a pendant to her physical atavism.
"Underground Man"
Gabriel Tarde

Famous quotes with Atavism

  • What a time experiences as evil, is usually an untimely echo of what was formerly experienced as good--the atavism of a more ancient ideal.
    Friedrich Nietzsche
  • I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are strangers at their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever knows. Perhaps it is this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.
    W. Somerset Maugham
  • I think enlightenment is incremental, and I see it in my children.This wouldn't happen with my children. They've known, they've mingled with black people all their lives. This certainly is not going to occur. And so it goes on in this incremental way. … I think this is the only way it can be achieved. The trouble with proclaiming yourself to be cleansed of atavism is that it's not the case. It's an illusion. It's an illusion that can only be maintained by ideology and executive policing. It is forced consciousness. It's a lie to say, I have no racial feelings. Honesty and slow progress is a better policy, I think.
    Martin Amis

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