Adjacent Words

throwback definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: characteristic of an atavist [syn: atavistic, throwback] n
1: an organism that has the characteristics of a more primitive type of that organism [syn: atavist, throwback]
2: a reappearance of an earlier characteristic [syn: atavism, reversion, throwback]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1888 1. a. reversion to an earlier type or phase ; atavism b. an instance or product of atavistic reversion 2. one that is suggestive of or suited to an earlier time or style <his manners were a throwback to a more polite era>

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(throwbacks) If you say that something is a throwback to a former time, you mean that it is like something that existed a long time ago. The hall is a throwback to another era with its old prints and stained-glass. N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N to n

Moby Thesaurus

atavism, backset, backsliding, backward deviation, backward motion, backward step, check, comedown, descent, down, falling back, lapse, reaction, recession, recidivation, recidivism, recrudescence, recurrence, reentry, refluence, reflux, regress, regression, relapse, renewal, retroaction, retrocession, retroflexion, retrogradation, retrogression, retrusion, return, reversal, reverse, reverse of fortune, reversion, rollback, setback, severe check, sternway