anachronism
/əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/
anachronism means A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object. It carries an Arena rating of 1871, earned across 64 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, anachronism ranks #120 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #126 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #954 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,098 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
anachronism is pronounced /əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/.
Why “anachronism” is a great word
An anachronism is a chronological error, the conspicuous misplacement of a person, object, or idea outside its proper time. From the Greek ana- ("against") and khronos ("time"), via Latin anachronismus. Unlike an archaism, which deliberately preserves the old as a stylistic choice, or a general incongruity, which merely jars, an anachronism is a specific fracture in time's narrative. It is the glint of a wristwatch in a Roman senate, the scent of gunpowder in a Viking longhouse, the flicker of a digital screen in a courtly address—a poignant reminder that to be caught against the current of time is to be forever out of place.
Etymology
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.
noun
- A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object.
- A person or thing which seems to belong to a different time or period of time.e.g.“You are too young—it is an anachronism for you to have such thoughts” — 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXII, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 400:
- The aberrant projection of the present onto the past.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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