anachronism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person, object, or detail placed in the wrong historical period

   A smartphone in the medieval film would be an anachronism.

2. 2
   noun

   something that seems old-fashioned or out of date

   The paper ticket felt like an anachronism.

Simplified etymology

Anachronism comes from Greek anakhronismos, formed from ana-, “backwards” or “against,” and khronos, “time.” It denotes something wrongly placed in a historical period.

From New Latin anachronismus, from Ancient Greek ἀναχρονισμός (anakhronismós), from ἀναχρονίζομαι (anakhronízomai, “referring to the wrong time”), from ἀνά (aná, “up against”) + χρονίζω (khronízō, “spending time”), from χρόνος (khrónos, “time”). Analyzable as ana- + chrono- + -ism.

Topics

External links

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