metachronous

[muh-tak-ruh-nuhs]

adjective

1. Medicine/Medical.,  occurring at a different time than a similar event.

   metachronous tumors.

2. Geology.,  composed of parts formed at different times.

   The older late-glacial shorelines are metachronous.

Word History and Origins

Origin of metachronous¹

First recorded in 1900–05 (for a different sense); meta- + Greek chrón(os) “time” + -ous