different between atavistic vs anachronistic

English

Etymology

From atavism +? -istic, from French atavisme, from Latin atavus (“ancestor”), from at + avus (“grandfather”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /æt.??v?s.t?k/
• Rhymes: -?st?k

Adjective

atavistic (comparative more atavistic, superlative most atavistic)

1. (biology) of the recurrence of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more generations due to a chance recombination of genes.
   • 1889, U.S. Office of Experiment Stations, Experiment Station Record

     Although the heterozygote gives it an atavistic appearance, the gene is not atavistic.

   • 2006, Roger E Stevenson, Judith G Hall, Human malformations and related anomalies

     Reactivation of a dormant atavistic gene could account for the abnormal costocoracoid ligament in humans.

2. of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism.
   • 2000, Steven Heller, Marshall Arisman, The education of an illustrator

     Because I am atavistic enough to believe that drawing is the basic language of the illustrator, even as words comprise the basic language of the writer…

3. relating to earlier, more primitive behavior that returns after an absence.

Synonyms

• atavistical

Derived terms

• atavistically

Related terms

• atavism
• atavist

Translations

English

Etymology

From anachronism +? -ic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??næk.???n?s.t?k/

Adjective

anachronistic (comparative more anachronistic, superlative most anachronistic)

1. Erroneous in date; containing an anachronism; in a wrong time; not applicable to or not appropriate for the time.

   If you know where to look in the movie, you can spot an anachronistic wrist watch on one of the Roman soldiers.

   • 1996, Joan Hoff, The Pernicious Effects of Poststructuralism on Women's History, Diane Bell, Renate Klein (editors), Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed, page 404,

     What could be more anachronistic than imposing contemporary concern over fragmentation, i.e. diversity, of the present on the past so that no sources of patriarchal power or hierarchy can be held responsible for collective oppression in any time period?

   • 2001, David E. Hojman, Economic Growth and Civil Society under Pinochet and Thatcher: A Political Economy Analysis of Free-Market Models in Chile and the United Kingdom, Frank H. Columbus (editor), Politics and Economics of Latin America, Volume 1, footnote, page 94,

     Among them, even the most lucid of 'one-nation' Tories had severe difficulties in seeing the anti-growth nature of some of the most anachronistic of traditional British institutions.

   • 2004, John W. Boyer, 1: Catholics, Christians and the Challenges of Democracy: The Heritage of the Nineteenth Century, Wolfram Kaiser, Helmut Wohnout (editors), Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945, Volume 1, page 22,

     The 'liberalism' issue that perplexed Catholics in the 1880s was by 1914 increasingly anachronistic, as political liberalism won resoundingly (in France), or lost resoundingly (in Austria), or became fragmented and divided (in Germany).
2. (of a person) Having opinions from the past; preferring things or values of the past; behind the times; overly conservative.

Synonyms

• (erroneous in date): anachronous, anachronistical; see also Thesaurus:anachronistic
• (not or no longer applicable or appropriate for the time): outdated, antiquated, obsolete; see also Thesaurus:obsolete
• (having opinions from the past): behind the times, old-fashioned, traditional

Related terms

• anachronism
• anachronist
• anachronistically

Translations

See also

• archaic
• conservative
• incongruent
• outdated
• parachronistic
• prochronistic
• chronistic

References

• anachronistic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• anachronistic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.