atavistic
Word family adjectiveatavisticnounatavismadverbatavistically
at·a·vis·tic /ˌætəˈvɪstɪk◂/ adjectiveadj formal atavistic• There is something quite atavistic about a group of people sitting down together to a good dinner.• It was abominable, atavistic and atrocious, big, black and brutal, cruel cold and callous, and so on.• It was filthy work, but full of atavistic excitement and the promise of financial reward.• Ironically, of course, these atavistic impulses no longer correspond to reality.• Then another feeling crept over me, a deep, almost atavistic longing.• It becomes virtually impossible when your enemy is trying to inflame every atavistic passion in order to defeat you.• Or a priest of some unknown religion who strides towards us, implacably set on some atavistic rite?• She sensed it; she knew it in some atavistic way that had nothing to do with intellect. Origin atavistic (1800-1900) atavism “being like ancestors” ((19-21 centuries)), from French atavisme, from Latin atavus “ancestor”