Online Google Dictionary

atavism 中文解釋 wordnet sense Collocation Usage Collins Definition
  1. a reappearance of an earlier characteristic
  2. (atavistic) characteristic of an atavist
  3. The term atavism (derived from the Latin atavus, a great-grandfather's grandfather; more generally, an ancestor) denotes the tendency to revert to ancestral type. An atavism is an evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing which had disappeared generations ago. ...
  4. Atavism is the fifth studio album released by the American heavy metal band Slough Feg (formerly The Lord Weird Slough Feg). A vinyl edition was also produced by Forest Moon Special Products in a limited print of 500.
  5. The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence; The recurrence or reversion to a past behaviour, method, characteristic or style after a long period of absence; Reversion to past primitive behavior, especially violence
  6. (ATAVISTIC) Recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination.
  7. A tendency to reproduce ancestral type in plants and in animals; to resemble one's grandparents or great-grandparents more than parents. In popular speech, a ‘throw back’. This concept was used by Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) to describe a type of criminal he called the born criminal. ...
  8. Re-emergence of ancestral characteristics; a genetic throwback.
  9. Atavism refers to Lombroso's theory that while most individuals evolve, some devolve, becoming primitive or "atavistic".  These evolutionary "throwbacks" are "born criminals," the most violent criminals in society.  Born criminals could be identified through their atavistic stigmata. ...
  10. [from Latin atavus ancestor] In biology, the reappearance of the characteristics of a remoter ancestor in its descendant; reversion to type; delayed heredity. ...
  11. A trait in an individual presumed to have been present in a past ancesto.
  12. Regression to an earlier type, "anti-evolution."
  13. A throwback; reoccurrence of features normally no longer evident in a lineage.
  14. The recurrence of certain primitive characteristics that were present in an ancestor but have not occurred in intermediate generations.
  15. regression back to a primitive state; the erasure of civilisation.