atavistic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tribal pull isn’t the brain’s only atavistic trait that struggles with modern life.
“Parade,” which delves into antisemitism, systemic bias in our judicial system and the power of a wily demagogue to stoke atavistic hatred for self-gain, has a disconcerting timeliness.
From Los Angeles Times
The crisis alongside the Texas border is just the latest instance of Republicans looking back to the Antebellum era for precedents to justify their increasingly atavistic behavior.
From Salon
The forward-facing, commercial ethos of the old GOP would have to accommodate itself to the atavistic, Lost Cause-nostalgia of the American South.
From Salon
Yet that does nothing to diminish the totemic power they wield over us, which is an expression of the unquestioned, atavistic nature of belief.
From New York Times
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
