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

Yet that does nothing to diminish the totemic power they wield over us, which is an expression of the unquestioned, atavistic nature of belief.

From New York Times • Feb. 16, 2023

But many women called it a put-down, an atavistic reaction to the feminist movement.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 22, 2021

Her palm lines do not branch into head, heart, and life lines like other people’s but crease with just one atavistic fold.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston