anachronism

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
18
Words With Friends
21
Letters
11
Pronunciation
/əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/

Definition of anachronism

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object.
    “Indeed, that Hall of the Upper Temple is a sight not uninteresting, and with the exception of some trifling improvements and anachronisms which have been introduced into the practice there, a man may sit down and fancy that he joins in a meal of the seventeenth century.”
    “[W]e beg the reader to understand that we only commit anachronisms when we choose and when by a daring violation of those natural laws some great ethical truth is to be advanced […]”
See all 3 definitions

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object.
    “Indeed, that Hall of the Upper Temple is a sight not uninteresting, and with the exception of some trifling improvements and anachronisms which have been introduced into the practice there, a man may sit down and fancy that he joins in a meal of the seventeenth century.”
    “[W]e beg the reader to understand that we only commit anachronisms when we choose and when by a daring violation of those natural laws some great ethical truth is to be advanced […]”
  2. (countable)A person or thing which seems to belong to a different time or period of time.
    “You are too young—it is an anachronism for you to have such thoughts”
    “His movements, his clothes, everything about him, seemed slightly out of place in this assembly. He spoiled the pattern; like Alvin, he was an anachronism.”
    “There exist in Europe a number of independent or semi-independent countries which are complete anachronisms, they are mini-countries which have little business existing in this hurly-burly century, but somehow they survive.”
    “We're also witnessing the passing of something even more profound - a culture of working-class masculinity that has become an anachronism in the modern world.”
    “It has been a colossal error by Davos Man left-wingers to think of nation-states as embarrassing anachronisms hostile to democracy.”
  3. (countable, uncountable)The aberrant projection of the present onto the past.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- Proto-Hellenic *aná Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́ (ănắ) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ- (ănă-) Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos) Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)…

See full etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- Proto-Hellenic *aná Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́ (ănắ) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ- (ănă-) Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos) Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Ancient Greek χρονῐ́ζω (khronĭ́zō) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰχρονῐ́ζομαι (ănăkhronĭ́zomai) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰχρονῐσμός (ănăkhronĭsmós)der. New Latin anachronismusder. English anachronism 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.

Anagrams of anachronism

1 play · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from anachronism

200+ playable · top: HARMONICAS (17 pts)

Best play harmonicas 17 points

10-letter words

1 word

9-letter words

9 words

8-letter words

22 words

7-letter words

56 words

6-letter words

110 words

5-letter words

1 word

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to anachronism to make another valid word.

Find your best play with anachronism

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes anachronism, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.