Skip to content
GREMockTests
GRE vocabulary

atavistic

adjectiveCommon GRE wordMore A words

reverting to an ancestral or primitive type after an absence of generations

Test your vocabulary in a real test Full-length · no signup · instant score
In a sentence

Atavistic in a sentence

Here is an example sentence showing atavistic in a sentence.

A strange, atavistic fear gripped him at the sound of distant howling.

Synonyms
ancestralprimitivethrowback
Antonyms
progressivemodernevolved
Common questions

Questions about “atavistic

Atavistic (adjective) means reverting to an ancestral or primitive type after an absence of generations
Here is atavistic used in an example sentence: "A strange, atavistic fear gripped him at the sound of distant howling."
Common synonyms for atavistic include ancestral, primitive, throwback.
Antonyms of atavistic include progressive, modern, evolved.
Atavistic is a GRE-level vocabulary word worth knowing for the Verbal section.

See these words the way the GRE tests them.

Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.