Definition of anachronism

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anachrony >

a·nach·ro·nism    (-nkr-nzm) KEY 

NOUN:

1. The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.
2. One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time: "A new age had plainly dawned, an age that made the institution of a segregated picnic seem an anachronism" (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.).

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ETYMOLOGY:
French anachronisme, from New Latin anachronismus, from Late Greek anakhronismos, from anakhronizesthai, to be an anachronism : Greek ana-, ana- + Greek khronizein, to take time (from khronos, time)

OTHER FORMS:
a·nachro·nistic or a·nachro·nous  (-ns) KEY (Adjective), a·nachro·nisti·cal·ly or a·nachro·nous·ly(Adverb)