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anachronism

Pronunciation: /əˈnakrəˌnɪz(ə)m/
Translate anachronism | into French | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of anachronism

noun

  • a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned:the town is a throwback to medieval times, an anachronism that has survived the passing years
  • [mass noun] the action of attributing something to a period to which it does not belong: it is anachronism to suppose that the official morality of the age was mere window dressing

Derivatives

anachronistic

Pronunciation: /-ˈnɪstɪk/
adjective

anachronistically

Pronunciation: /-ˈnɪstɪk(ə)li/
adverb

Origin:

mid 17th century: from Greek anakhronismos, from ana- 'backwards' + khronos 'time'

anachronism in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of anachronism in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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