anachronism
noun/əˈnækrənɪzəm/
/əˈnækrənɪzəm/
- [countable] a 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.
- [countable, uncountable] something that is placed, for example in a book or play, in the wrong period of history; the fact of placing something in the wrong period of history
- The book is full of anachronisms which suggests there were parts rewritten in later centuries.
- the charges of anachronism levelled against the film
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from Greek anakhronismos, from ana- ‘backwards’ + khronos ‘time’.
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anachronism