ATAVISM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A reappearance of an earlier characteristic

Synonyms:

atavism; reversion; throwback

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("atavism" is a kind of...):

recurrence; return (happening again (especially at regular intervals))

Derivation:

atavist (an organism that has the characteristics of a more primitive type of that organism)

Credits