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 anakhronismósreference 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.
\ \ Cf.CHRONICLE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • anachronism — anachronism, solecism are occasionally used interchangeably to mean something that does not properly belong to the setting or background in which it is placed and that is incongruous with it. More specifically, anachronism implies a mistake in… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Anachronism — An*ach ro*nism, n. [Gr. ?, fr. ? to refer to a wrong time, to confound times; ? + ? time: cf. F. anachronisme.] A misplacing or error in the order of time; an error in chronology by which events are misplaced in regard to each other, esp. one by… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • anachronism — (n.) 1640s, an error in computing time or finding dates, from L. anachronismus, from Gk. anakhronismos, from anakhronizein refer to wrong time, from ana against (see ANA (Cf. ana )) + khronos time, of uncertain origin. Meaning something out of… …   Etymology dictionary

  • anachronism — [n] error in time placement chronological error, metachronism, misdate, misplacement, postdate, prolepsis, solecism; concept 818 …   New thesaurus

  • anachronism — ► NOUN 1) a thing belonging to a period other than the one in which it exists. 2) the placing of something in the wrong historical period. DERIVATIVES anachronistic adjective anachronistically adverb. ORIGIN from Greek ana backwards + khronos… …   English terms dictionary

  • anachronism — [ə nak′rə niz΄əm] n. [MGr anachronismos < anachronizein, to refer to a wrong time < Gr ana , against + chronos, time] 1. the representation of something as existing or occurring at other than its proper time, esp. earlier 2. anything that… …   English World dictionary

  • Anachronism — An anachronism (from the Greek ana ανά , against, anti , and chronos χρόνος , time ) is anything that is temporally incongruous in the time period it has been placed in mdash;that is, it appears in a temporal context in which it seems… …   Wikipedia

  • Anachronism — (Roget s Thesaurus) >False estimate of time. < N PARAG:Anachronism >N GRP: N 1 Sgm: N 1 anachronism anachronism metachronism parachronism prochronism Sgm: N 1 prolepsis prolepsis misdate Sgm: N 1 anticipation anticipation antichronism …   English dictionary for students

  • anachronism — anachronically /an euh kron ik lee/, adv. /euh nak reuh niz euhm/, n. 1. something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, esp. a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time: The sword is an anachronism in… …   Universalium

  • anachronism — [[t]ənæ̱krənɪzəm[/t]] anachronisms 1) N COUNT You say that something is an anachronism when you think that it is out of date or old fashioned. In this day and age the dowry with all its attendant cruelties is an anachronism. 2) N COUNT An… …   English dictionary

  • anachronism — UK [əˈnækrəˌnɪz(ə)m] / US [əˈnækrəˌnɪzəm] noun [countable] Word forms anachronism : singular anachronism plural anachronisms something that is no longer suitable for or relevant to modern times She regards the marriage ceremony as a quaint… …   English dictionary

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