atavism

Plural: atavisms

Noun

• The reappearance of a trait after generations of absence.
• a reappearance of an earlier characteristic
• The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence; a throwback.
• The recurrence or reversion to a past behaviour, method, characteristic or style after a long period of absence.
• Reversion to past primitive behavior, especially violence.

Examples

• His use of an obsolete spelling was an act of linguistic atavism.

Synonyms

reversion, throwback

Related Words

throwback