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.
She craved a more personally expressive mode of performance—an “experience that was deeper in my body,” she said, that engaged with “the atavistic depth of words.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
“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 • Jun. 20, 2025
The new film’s greatest creation, though, was Rutger Hauer’s atavistic replicant Roy Batty, a dissident being hunted by Ford’s titular character, Rick Deckard.
From New York Times • Aug. 4, 2022
But many women called it a put-down, an atavistic reaction to the feminist movement.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 22, 2021
Except in some atavistic part of his brain, he knows exactly what they’ll do.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Vocabulary lists containing atavistic
Into the Wild
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Fences
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
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