anachronistic
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- anachronistically adverb
- nonanachronistic adjective
- nonanachronistically adverb
- pseudoanachronistic adjective
- pseudoanachronistical adjective
- unanachronistic adjective
- unanachronistical adjective
- unanachronistically adverb
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.
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
It said the current system requiring approval from two doctors was "anachronistic, paternalistic and failed to reflect best modern practice".
From BBC • Nov. 14, 2025
It’s based on a novel written in the 1890s by the Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler, and the adaptation’s transposition of time and place comes off as anachronistic and unconvincing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 15, 2025
Thus they legitimize a profoundly anachronistic reading of the dispute between Hobbes and Boyle by placing their own view of that dispute into the mouth of Hobbes.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
