atavistic

adjective

Meaning

Relating to or characterized by a reversion to something ancestral or primitive.

Examples

The crowd's atavistic roar during the fight revealed a primal side of human nature.
He experienced an atavistic fear of the dark that seemed to have no logical basis.

Synonyms: primitive, archaic, primeval, ancestral

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atavistic

adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌætəˈvɪstɪk/

Definition

Relating to or characterized by a reversion to something ancestral or primitive.

Examples

The crowd's atavistic roar during the fight revealed a primal side of human nature.
He experienced an atavistic fear of the dark that seemed to have no logical basis.
Many critics argued that the film tapped into atavistic instincts rather than intellectual engagement.

Synonyms of atavistic

Words with a similar meaning to atavistic:

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