atavistic

Definitions

Relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral.

Suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type.

Examples

The sudden roar of the crowd triggered an atavistic fear in the cornered animal.

His atavistic urge to hunt and gather seemed out of place in the modern, high-tech city.

Synonyms

primitive archaic ancestral primeval evolutionary throwback instinctive primal

Antonyms

modern civilized advanced contemporary refined cultured developed