What does atavism mean?
Atavism refers to the reappearance, after a gap of one or more generations, of a characteristic that resembles those of an organism's distant ancestors — a biological phenomenon often described as a 'throwback'. Classic examples include a child born with a tail-like structure or extra nipples, traits thought to reflect earlier stages of human ancestry. Beyond biology, the word is used figuratively to describe a relapse into attitudes, customs, or instincts regarded as primitive or long outgrown: an 'atavistic fear of the dark' or an 'atavistic tribalism' in politics. The term derives from the Latin 'atavus', meaning ancestor, and entered English usage in the nineteenth century alongside developments in evolutionary theory. Today it appears most often in its adjectival form, 'atavistic', which carries a formal tone and frequently implies disapproval of regressive behaviour. The word remains valuable precisely because it links heredity, history, and human nature in a single evocative term.
nounThe reappearance in an organism of a characteristic that had disappeared generations earlier, regarded as a throwback to ancestral forms; more broadly, a reversion to something ancient or primitive in behaviour or attitudes.
- Biology: the reappearance in an individual of a trait typical of remote ancestors after several generations' absence.
- Figurative: a tendency to revert to an earlier, more primitive type of behaviour or belief.
"His sudden bursts of tribal loyalty struck his colleagues as an atavism from a more violent age."
"The calf was born with vestigial hind limbs, a striking example of atavism."
"Critics dismissed the policy as an atavism — a nostalgic hankering for empire."
Regular plural; used both for multiple biological instances and multiple figurative regressions.
"Such atavisms recur occasionally in captive breeding populations."
Darwin's era called it the 'throwback' — the shocking return of a long-lost ancestral trait in one seemingly ordinary individual.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of atavism
Atavism comes from the Latin 'atavus', meaning a great-great-great-grandfather or, more loosely, a forefather or ancestor. The word was formed in the nineteenth century, during the era when Darwinian evolutionary theory made the reappearance of ancestral traits a subject of scientific debate. Its cognate adjective 'atavistic' is now the more commonly used form. A distant relative is the Latin root 'avus' (grandfather), which also underlies English words such as 'avuncular'.
Related word forms
How atavism is actually used
Formal and somewhat learned in register; common in evolutionary biology, literary criticism, and social commentary. The adjective 'atavistic' is considerably more frequent than the noun. In figurative use it often carries a mildly pejorative connotation of primitiveness.
Easily confused with atavism
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition, whereas atavism is the reappearance of ancestral traits or a reversion to primitive behaviour.