atavism

atavism
The appearance in an individual of characteristics presumed to have been present in some remote ancestor; reversion to an earlier biologic type, a throwback. [L. atavus, a remote ancestor]

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at·a·vism 'at-ə-.viz-əm n
1) recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usu. due to genetic recombination
2) an individual or character manifesting atavism: THROWBACK
at·a·vis·tic .at-ə-'vis-tik adj
at·a·vis·ti·cal·ly -ti-k(ə-)lē adv

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n.
the phenomenon in which an individual has a character or disease known to have occurred in a remote ancestor but not in his parents.

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at·a·vism (atґə-viz-əm) [L. atavus grandfather] the apparent inheritance of a characteristic from remote rather than from immediate ancestors, which may be due to recessive or complementary recessive genes, chance recombination of genes, or unusual environmental conditions favoring expression. atavistic adj

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • Atavism — • Duchesne introduced the word to designate those cases in which species revert spontaneously to what are presumably long lost characters Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Atavism     Atavism …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • atavism — ATAVÍSM s.n. Apariţie la un descendent animal sau vegetal a unor particularităţi (fizice sau psihice) proprii ascendenţilor îndepărtaţi. – Din fr. atavisme. Trimis de ana zecheru, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DEX 98  ATAVÍSM s. (biol.) reversie. Trimis de …   Dicționar Român

  • Atavism — At a*vism, n. [L. atavus an ancestor, fr. avus a grandfather.] 1. (a) The recurrence, or a tendency to a recurrence, of the original type of a species in the progeny of its varieties; resemblance to remote rather than to near ancestors; reversion …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • atavism — atavism. См. атавизм. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • atavism — 1833, from Fr. atavisme, attested by 1820s, from L. atavus ancestor, forefather, from at perhaps here meaning beyond + avus grandfather, from PIE *awo adult male relative other than the father (see UNCLE (Cf. uncle)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • atavism — *reversion, throwback …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • atavism — [at′ə viz΄əm] n. [Fr atavisme < L atavus, father of a great grandfather, ancestor < at , beyond + avus, grandfather < IE * ati, beyond + * awos, maternal grandfather] 1. appearance in an individual of some characteristic found in a… …   English World dictionary

  • Atavism — The term atavism (derived from the Latin atavus , a great grandfather s grandfather and, thus, more generally, an ancestor) denotes the tendency to revert to ancestral type. An atavism is an evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing… …   Wikipedia

  • atavism — noun Etymology: French atavisme, from Latin atavus ancestor, from at (probably akin to atta daddy) + avus grandfather more at uncle Date: 1833 1. a. recurrence in an organism of a trait or character …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • atavism —   n. reversion to remote ancestral type; throw back ; recurrence of hereditary feature after an interval of a generation or more.    ♦ atavistic, a. pertaining to remote ancestor.    ♦ atavist, n. person or thing marked by atavism …   Dictionary of difficult words

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