atavism

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.

His atavism came with the weekend’s most polish.

From Slate • May 30, 2023

In movies, food is rarely just food — it is a way of signaling obsession and atavism, consumption and desire.

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2018

They spent three decades as part of a peaceful, democratic majority entirely dominated by the fissile futility of a few hundred people’s atavism and arrogance.

From The Guardian • Jan. 2, 2016

Enright understands adulthood as a kind of aberration that befalls families: siblings must grow up, but their maturity is oddly irrelevant to the atavism of the family unit.

From The New Yorker • May 18, 2015

As if it came from an atavism deeper than fear, I used to add “brother” silently to boys’ names.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston