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

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

Technicolor chivalry and cultural atavism aside, “Lost in Shangri-La” tells of the first contact between disoriented, combative cultures, one of the final first-contacts in human history.

From New York Times • Jun. 3, 2011

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