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anachronistic

UK/əˌnæk.ɹəˈnɪs.tɪk/US/əˌnæk.ɹəˈnɪs.tɪk/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,327 of 15,258leans written

Anachronistic means belonging to the wrong period of history. An anachronistic detail.

It covers a thing appearing too early as well as too late, though early is the commoner fault. An anachronistic attitude in a historical novel is harder to spot and worse than an anachronistic object.

Definitions of anachronistic

  1. 1adjectiveanachronisticBelonging to the wrong period of history.C2

    “One anachronistic zip ruined an otherwise careful costume.”

anachronistic is a quality.

Where it comes from

  1. New Latin

    anachronismus

  2. English

    anachronism

  3. English, today

    anachronistic

Built from

  • ἀναχρονίζομαι · Ancient Greek — referring to the wrong time
  • ἀνά · Ancient Greek — up against
  • χρονίζω · Ancient Greek — spending time
  • χρόνος · Ancient Greek — time

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

anachronistic in the wild

  • Since the contemporary word diamond is now used for the hardest gemstone, the increasingly archaic noun adamant has been reduced to mostly poetic or anachronistic use.

    Adamant

  • Although it is probably anachronistic for Eochaid to have had a Saxon wife, T.

    Eochaid Mugmedon

  • The term dates to 1896 or earlier; it continues to be used today, albeit now more frequently in an ironically anachronistic and kitsch fashion.

    Ye olde

  • The concept of anatopism is less widely familiar than that of anachronism, perhaps because much that is anatopic is also anachronistic.

    Anatopism

  • Yet the distinction is a valid one; not all that is anatopic is necessarily also anachronistic.

    Anatopism

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the anachronismus family

anachronismanachronistic

anachronistic — used about once every 54,060 pages · #14,327 · point at the bar for the others