Atavism1. (n.) 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.
2. (n.) The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or two.
Thesaurus Entries
Mnemosyne, aboriginality, affect memory, age, ancien regime, ancientness, anterograde memory, antiquity, backset, backward deviation, cobwebs of antiquity, collective memory, computer memory, disk memory, drum memory, dust of ages, eld, elderliness, eldership, emotional response, engram, falling back, great age, hoary age, hoary eld, information storage, inveteracy, kinesthetic memory, lapse, memory, memory bank, memory circuit, memory trace, mind, mneme, old age, old order, old style, oldness, primitiveness, primogeniture, primordialism, primordiality, race memory, recollection, recrudescence, recurrence, regression, relapse, remembrance, renewal, return, reversal, reverse, reversion, screen memory, senility, seniority, setback, skill, souvenir, tape memory, throwback, venerableness, verbal response, visual memory