- 1a person, a custom, or an idea that seems old-fashioned and does not belong to the present The monarchy is seen by many people as an anachronism in the modern world. She said nuclear weapons were an anachronism in the post cold war era.
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- 2something that is placed, for example in a book or play, in the wrong period of history The book is full of anachronisms which suggests there were parts rewritten in later centuries.
NAmE//əˌnækrəˈnɪstɪk//
adjective The costumes were anachronistic for a Victorian play.See anachronism in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: anachronism