anachronism

[ uh-nak-ruh-niz-uhm ]

noun

1. something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time:

   The sword is an anachronism in modern warfare.

2. an error in chronology in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one:

   To assign Michelangelo to the 14th century is an anachronism.

anachronism

/ əˈnækrəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. the representation of an event, person, or thing in a historical context in which it could not have occurred or existed
2. a person or thing that belongs or seems to belong to another time

   she regards the Church as an anachronism

Derived Forms

• aˌnachroˈnistically, adverb
• aˌnachroˈnistic, adjective

Other Words From

• an·a·chron·i·cal·ly [an-, uh, -, kron, -ik-lee], adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of anachronism¹

1640–50; < Latin anachronismus < Greek anachronismós a wrong time reference, equivalent to anachron ( ízein ) to make a wrong time reference ( ana-, chron-, -ize ) + -ismos -ism

Word History and Origins

Origin of anachronism¹

C17: from Latin anachronismus, from Greek anakhronismos a mistake in chronology, from anakhronizein to err in a time reference, from ana- + khronos time

Example Sentences

SamsungMany TV remotes still rely on alkaline batteries, which feels like an anachronism in 2021.

From Popular-Science

In many ways, the United States Senate is an anachronism left over from a time when thirteen colonies were independent sovereign nations.

From Time

The divide between capital and labor increasingly looks like an anachronism, a throwback to the language and illusory simplicity of another time.

From TechCrunch

The usual policy of staying out of foreign conflicts unless absolutely necessary was becoming an anachronism.

From Washington Post

By 2030, I would argue that we will view this problem in the rearview mirror as a quaint anachronism.

From Freakonomics

The “reenactment” of the battle, an even more recent anachronism, dates back only to 1977.

From The Daily Beast

These days, says another former top studio executive, puts are an anachronism.

From The Daily Beast

With these appears, by a poetic anachronism, Dietrich of Berne.

From Project Gutenberg

By the time of the Reform Bill, a sinecure had become an anachronism.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet there are "many traces of apparent anachronism," of divergence from the more antique picture of life.

From Project Gutenberg

It was to him more of an anachronism than any manifestation he had yet encountered, even at the Fort, that stronghold of the past.

From Project Gutenberg

But what is an anachronism of this kind compared to that which involves the principal character in one continued topsy-turveydom?

From Project Gutenberg