chronological
Americanadjective
-
arranged in the order of time.
a chronological list of events.
-
pertaining to or in accordance with chronology.
a chronological process.
adjective
-
(esp of a sequence of events) arranged in order of occurrence
-
relating to or in accordance with chronology
Other Word Forms
- chronologically adverb
- unchronological adjective
Etymology
Origin of chronological
First recorded in 1605–15; chronolog(y) + -ical
Explanation
If you’re making a list of all your teachers in the order you had them, from kindergarten right up to the present, you’re listing them in chronological order. Chronological is the order in which things actually happened. Chronological doesn’t allow for time traveling or flashbacks. If you’re making a documentary of events leading up to World War II and you start in the early 1900s and end at the outbreak of the war, in 1939, that’s chronological. Reverse chronological order means giving the most recent event first, and going backwards from there. Chronological includes the useful Greek root khronos, "time."
Vocabulary lists containing chronological
It's About Time: Chron and Temp
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Ides, Eon, Epoch, and Era: Time-related Words
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List 6
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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 first task was to put them in chronological order, something made more difficult by the fact that some of the documents were undated.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
Instead of presenting an organized system of knowledge, whose stylistic or chronological categories suggested hierarchies, it would free visitors, a press release claims, “from prescribed paths to follow their own curiosity.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
The response from app designers could be swift and dramatic: Think universal TikTok-style censorship and aughts-era chronological scroll, experts said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2026
That other Greek concept is chronos, which refers to chronological or sequential time and is quantitative.
From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026
“I think we should go through them in chronological order. Let’s see—this one says ‘WWII.’
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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.
