atavism, reversion, throwback
(noun) a reappearance of an earlier characteristic
Source: WordNet® 3.1
atavism (countable and uncountable, plural atavisms)
The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence.
The recurrence or reversion to a past behaviour, method, characteristic or style after a long period of absence.
(sociology) Reversion to past primitive behavior, especially violence.
Can be used both positively, to refer to past or ancestral characteristics, or pejoratively, referring specifically to past primitive characteristics.
A rather formal term; in popular speech the circumlocution skip a generation is often used for traits that occur after a generation of absence.
Source: Wiktionary
At"a*vism, n. Etym: [L. atavus an ancestor, fr. avus a grandfather.] (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 to the original form. (b) (Biol.) The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or two. Now and then there occur cases of what physiologists call atavism, or reversion to an ancestral type of character. J. Fiske
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
21 April 2025
(noun) a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty
The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.
