anachronize means to refer to, or put into, a wrong time period. It carries an Arena rating of 1527, earned across 19 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, anachronize ranks #2,651 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #4,321 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #4,348 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #4,508 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
anachronize is pronounced /əˈnækɹənaɪz/.
Why “anachronize” is a great word
To assign a person, object, or idea to a time period in which it does not belong. From anachronism + -ize, ultimately 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'). Unlike 'misdate,' a specific calendrical error, or 'synchronize,' its precise opposite, to anachronize is to commit a deeper crime of context. It is a knight in plate armor checking a smartphone, a phonograph crackling in a Regency drawing-room, or a Victorian heroine speaking with today's casual irony—each a palpable tear in history's fabric, a quiet confession of our own temporal imprisonment.
Etymology
From anachronism + -ize. 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”).
verb
- To refer to, or put into, a wrong time period.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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