anachronism
pronunciation
How to pronounce anachronism in British English:
UK [əˈnækrənɪzəm]
How to pronounce anachronism in American English:
US [əˈnækrəˌnɪzəm]
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- Noun:
- something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
- an artifact that belongs to another time
- a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age
Word Origin
- anachronism
- anachronism: [17] The Greek prefix anameant ‘up’, and hence, in terms of time, ‘back’; Greek khrónos meant ‘time’ (as in English chronicle): hence Greek anakhronismós ‘reference to a wrong time’. From the point of view of its derivation it should strictly be applied to the representation of something as happening earlier than it really did (as if Christ were painted wearing a wristwatch), but in practice, ever since the Greek term’s adoption into English, it has also been used for things surviving beyond their due time.=> chronicle
- anachronism (n.)
- 1640s, "an error in computing time or finding dates," from Latin anachronismus, from Greek anakhronismos, from anakhronizein "refer to wrong time," from ana- "against" (see ana-) + khronos "time" (see chrono-). Meaning "something out of harmony with the present" first recorded 1816.
Example
- 1. Otherwise , the boardroom is best treated as an institutional anachronism that deserves to be scrapped .
- 2. She regards the marriage ceremony as a quaint anachronism .
- 3. Rages is a seleucid town and hence an anachronism .
- 4. Business cards can sometimes feel like a bit of an anachronism .
- 5. It is precisely because some people do not recognize the medieval anachronism , it will be put in jail copernicus , bruno , burned alive .