anachronism
something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time: The sword is an anachronism in modern warfare.
an error in chronology in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one: To assign Michelangelo to the 14th century is an anachronism.
Origin of anachronism
1Other words from anachronism
- an·a·chron·i·cal·ly [an-uh-kron-ik-lee], /ˌæn əˈkrɒn ɪk li/, adverb
- Compare parachronism, prochronism.
Words Nearby anachronism
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use anachronism in a sentence
The “reenactment” of the battle, an even more recent anachronism, dates back only to 1977.
These days, says another former top studio executive, puts are an anachronism.
With these appears, by a poetic anachronism, Dietrich of Berne.
The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire | Edward GibbonBy the time of the Reform Bill, a sinecure had become an anachronism.
The English Utilitarians, Volume II (of 3) | Leslie StephenYet there are "many traces of apparent anachronism," of divergence from the more antique picture of life.
Homer and His Age | Andrew Lang
It was to him more of an anachronism than any manifestation he had yet encountered, even at the Fort, that stronghold of the past.
The Open Question | Elizabeth RobinsBut what is an anachronism of this kind compared to that which involves the principal character in one continued topsy-turveydom?
The English Stage | Augustin Filon
British Dictionary definitions for anachronism
/ (əˈnækrəˌnɪzəm) /
the representation of an event, person, or thing in a historical context in which it could not have occurred or existed
a person or thing that belongs or seems to belong to another time: she regards the Church as an anachronism
Origin of anachronism
1Derived forms of anachronism
- anachronistic, adjective
- anachronistically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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