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atavism in Finnish

atavism in Finnish is atavismi — atavism means the sudden return of a trait from a distant ancestor after it had disappeared for generations.

atavism in Finnish

atavismi
noun
The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence; a throwback.

What does "atavism" mean?

  1. noun The sudden return of a trait from a distant ancestor after it had disappeared for generations.
    "He was a magnificent atavism, a man so purely primitive that he was of the type that came into the world before the development of the moral nature. He was not immoral, but merely unmoral."
  2. noun A return to an old way of behaving or doing something after it had not been seen for a long time.
  3. noun A return to more primitive behaviour, especially violent behaviour.
    "I have even read in a book of criminology that the tramp is an atavism, a throw-back to the nomadic stage of humanity."
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atavism in a sentence

  • He was a magnificent atavism, a man so purely primitive that he was of the type that came into the world before the development of the moral nature. He was not immoral, but merely unmoral.
  • I have even read in a book of criminology that the tramp is an atavism, a throw-back to the nomadic stage of humanity.

Similar words in Finnish

Common Finnish translations

Frequently asked questions

What is "atavism" in Finnish?
"atavism" in Finnish is atavismi. atavism means: The sudden return of a trait from a distant ancestor after it had disappeared for generations.
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Translations from WikDict, CC BY-SA · example sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR.