anachronistic
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of anachronistic
First recorded in 1765–75; anachron(ism) + -istic
Explanation
Something that's old-fashioned and maybe a little out of place is anachronistic, like a clunky black rotary-dial telephone sitting on a desk beside a sleek new smart-phone (or whatever the new technology is when you read this). The adjective anachronistic comes from the Greek words ana, or "against", and khronos, or "time." It usually refers to something old-fashioned or antique, but it can also mean anything that blatantly clashes with the time in which it is seen. Imagine watching a movie that takes place in the 1700s and seeing one of the characters pull out a cell phone. Any phone, in the context of the movie's time period, would be anachronistic.
Vocabulary lists containing anachronistic
100 Top "SAT" Words
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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It's About Time: Chron and Temp
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Veda’s evil can also feel anachronistic, especially in today’s world of nepo-baby jokes, “immigrants get it done!” and reverence of rags-to-riches stories.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026
“It’s anachronistic to have a men’s bar,” said one female member.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
The historically anachronistic animated epic introduces its neanderthal champion, Spear, and his partner, a female Tyrannosaurus named Fang, as they find common cause in grief.
From Salon • Feb. 1, 2026
One of the most important ways to do that is to loosen the anachronistic barriers that unduly inhibit bank innovation, especially when it comes to technological transformations like stablecoins.
From Barron's • Dec. 19, 2025
On January 4, 1993, this writer received an unusual letter, penned in a shaky, anachronistic script that suggested an elderly author.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
