Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Atavism |
AtavismNoun1. A reappearance of an earlier characteristic. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "atavism" was first used: 1833. (references) |
Etymology: Atavism \At"a*vism\, noun. [Latin expression atavus an ancestor, from avus grandfather.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: AtavismSynonyms: reversion (n), throwback (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The concept was much more widely used in the pre-genetic Darwinism of Ernst Häckel, who proposed a recapitulation theory commonly summed up in the phrase that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny: the notion that a developing embryo revisits the previous evolutionary stages of the organism in the course of its development, and resembles the successively more complex organisms out of which it had evolved.
The notion of atavism was used frequently by social darwinists, who liked to claim that inferior races displayed atavistic traits, and represented more primitive traits than their own race. Both the notion of atavism, and Häckel's recapitulation theory, are saturated with bogus notions of evolution as progress, as a march towards greater complexity and superior ability, which we now know to be untenable.
See also: ontogeny, phylogeny, ontogeny and phylogeny.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Atavism."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Reversion | Turning point, turn of the tide; status quo ante bellum; calm before a storm. alternation; (periodicity); inversion; recoil; retreat, regression, retrogression; restoration; relapse, recidivism; atavism; vicinism; |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Atavism |
| English words defined with "atavism": Atavic. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Atavism" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Romanian (atavism), Swedish (atavism, throwback). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Atavism of Tom (1917) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| "Atavism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Atavism" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 9 | 117,287 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
atavism | 8 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "atavism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | atavisme (throw-back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | atavizëm. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | التأسل الرجعي. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | атавизъм (reversion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | atavisme (throw back), reversion (reversion, throw back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | atavisme (throw-back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | atavismo (throw-back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | نیاکان گراءی , شباهت به نیاکان (Atavistic), برگشت بخوی نیاکان . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | atavismi (throw back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | atavisme. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | atavismus (throw-back), rückschlag (backstroke, frustration, rebound, recoil, relapse, return, reverse, reversion to type, set back, setback, throwback, upset). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | προγονισμός, αταβισμός (throw back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | תורשתיות (heredity), תורש" (heredity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | atavizmus (reversion to type, throw-back), visszaütés (back-stroke, counter, get, recoil, recoiling), csökevény (left over, rudiment, stump, survival, throw-back, vestige). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | atavismo (throw back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | "世遺伝 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | かくせいいで". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | aaghooghys (throwback). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | atavismay atavismo (throw back). (various references) atavism. (various references) атавизм (throwback). (various references) atavizam (throwback). (various references) atavismo (throw back). (various references) atavism (throwback). (various references) atavizm, atalara çekme, atacılık. (various references) атавізм (throw back). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | atavus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "atavism": atavisms. (additional references) | |
| |
"Atavism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: atavis, atavise, atavisim, atenism, ativism, avatism, nativism, tavis. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "atavism" (pronounced a"tuvi'zum) |
| 6 | -u v i' z u m | bolshevism. |
| 5 | -v i' z u m | activism, collectivism, nativism, negativism, positivism, recidivism, relativism. |
| 4 | -i' z u m | abolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, adventurism, agrarianism, alcoholism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bilingualism, boosterism, botulism, cannibalism, capitalism, catechism, centralism, chauvinism, classicism, colonialism, commercialism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, emotionalism, empiricism, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, ergotism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, evangelism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, factionalism, fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, favoritism, federalism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, gradualism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, idealism, illusionism, imperialism, impressionism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, Irredentism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, journalism, leftism, legalism, lesbianism, liberalism, lyricism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, materialism, mechanism, mercantilism, mesmerism, metabolism, methodism, microorganism, militarism, minimalism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, mysticism, narcissism, nationalism, naturalism, nepotism, neutralism, nihilism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, ostracism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parallelism, parkinsonism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, patriotism, perfectionism, pessimism, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, pluralism, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, pragmatism, professionalism, protectionism, provincialism, puritanism, racialism, racism, radicalism, realism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, romanticism, sadism, satanism, sectarianism, secularism, sensationalism, separatism, sexism, skepticism, socialism, statism, stoicism, supernaturalism, surrealism, symbolism, synergism, territorialism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vandalism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism. |
| 3 | -z u m | bosom, careerism, chasm, cytoplasm, enthusiasm, iconoclasm, ism, microcosm, neoplasm, orgasm, phantasm, prism, sarcasm, schism, spasm. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-i-m-s-t-v" | |
-2 letters: amias, atmas, avast, maist, mavis, tamis, vista. | |
-3 letters: aims, aits, amas, amia, amis, atma, mast, mats, mist, sati, sima, smit, tams, tavs, vasa, vast, vats, vims, visa, vita. | |
-4 letters: aas, aim, ais, ait, ama, ami, ava, ism, its, mas, mat, mis, sat, sim, sit, tam, tas, tav, tis, vas, vat, via, vim, vis. | |
-5 letters: aa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-i-m-s-t-v" | |
+1 letter: atavisms. | |
+3 letters: calmatives. | |
+4 letters: amativeness, animadverts, maidservant, misevaluate. | |
+5 letters: affirmatives, antivitamins, assimilative, avitaminoses, avitaminosis, carminatives, comparatives, maidservants, maladjustive, malversation, margraviates, megavitamins, misevaluated, misevaluates, salvationism. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Translations: Ancient | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
