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
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 chronological installation begins with Evans’s first two pen-and-ink drawings from about 1935: abstract radiating eyes, spirals, zigzags and squiggles—feverish doodles resembling ancient pictographic narratives set down in a trance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
It’s a stark contrast to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, which opened in 2016 under the direction of Bunch and, notably, has a clear chronological design.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026
Because of his adherence to a strictly chronological presentation of events, the narrative shifts abruptly from one theater of the contested continent to another, often several times in a single chapter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The team calculated the average difference between biological and chronological age within each birth cohort.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
My narrative, while willfully episodic in character—no comprehensive coverage of all events is claimed—follows a chronological line, with one significant exception.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
