Although the heterozygote gives it an atavistic appearance, the gene is not atavistic.
Source: wiktionary
Atavistic
Synonyms for "atavistic" (64 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (13)
Strong matches (19)
Related words (32)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Synonyms
1 entriesRelated terms
2 entriesderived
2 entriesderived from
2 entrieshas context
1 entriesrelated to
4 entriessimilar
2 entriesTranslations
54 translations across 20 languages.
Bulgarian
1 entries- атавистичен adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
Catalan
1 entries- atàvic adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
Chinese Mandarin
3 entries- 原始的 adj (of a throwback)
- 返祖現象的 /返祖现象的 adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
- 隔代遺傳的 /隔代遗传的 adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
Danish
2 entries- atavistisk adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atavistisk adj (of a throwback)
Dutch
3 entries- atavistisch adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atavistisch adj (of a throwback)
- atavistisch adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Finnish
4 entries- alkukantainen adj (of a throwback)
- atavistinen adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atavistinen adj (of a throwback)
- atavistinen adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
French
3 entries- atavique adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atavique adj (of a throwback)
- atavique adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Galician
3 entries- atávico adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atávico adj (of a throwback)
- atávico adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
German
3 entries- atavistisch adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atavistisch adj (of a throwback)
- atavistisch adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Italian
3 entries- atavico adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atavico adj (of a throwback)
- atavico adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Korean
1 entries- 격세 유전적인 adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
Manx
3 entries- aaghooghyssagh adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- aaghooghyssagh adj (of a throwback)
- aaghooghyssagh adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Norwegian
1 entries- atavistisk adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
Polish
3 entries- atawistyczny adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atawistyczny adj (of a throwback)
- atawistyczny adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Portuguese
4 entries- atavístico adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atavístico adj (of a throwback)
- atavístico adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
- atávico adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
Romanian
1 entries- atavic adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
Russian
3 entries- атависти́ческий adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- атависти́ческий adj (of a throwback)
- атависти́ческий adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Spanish
3 entries- atávico adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- atávico adj (of a throwback)
- atávico adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Tagalog
3 entries- mapanauli adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- mapanauli adj (of a throwback)
- mapanauli adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Volapük
3 entries- taavistik adj (biology: of the recurrence of a trait after an absence of generations)
- taavistik adj (of a throwback)
- taavistik adj (of the return of earlier, more primitive behavior)
Sample sentences
6 total sentences available.
Thus the gene which produced atavistic digits in the vigorous heterozygous pentadactyl condition is a lethal monster in the homozygous condition.
Source: wiktionary
Reactivation of a dormant atavistic gene could account for the abnormal costocoracoid ligament in humans.
Source: wiktionary
They made me feel that I was alive in the nineteenth century, a sort of atavistic remnant, a romantic shred […]
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 6 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.