Meanings
comparative more anachronistic · superlative most anachronistic
- Erroneous in date; containing an anachronism; in a wrong time; not applicable to or not appropriate for the time.
If you know where to look in the movie, you can spot an anachronistic wrist watch on one of the Roman soldiers.
5 more examples
The impiety of the Ciceronian attitude was probably his major objection to the sect, yet the dialogue is mainly concerned with the more anachronistic and illogical aspects of attempting to write only as Cicero did.
1975, David O. McNeil, Guillaume Budé and Humanism in the Reign of Francis I, page 71What could be more anachronistic than imposing contemporary concern over fragmentation, i.e. diversity, of the present on the past so that no sources of patriarchal power or hierarchy can be held responsible for collective oppression in any time period?
1996, Joan Hoff, “The Pernicious Effects of Poststructuralism on Women's History”, in Diane Bell, Renate Klein, editors, Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed, page 404Among them, even the most lucid of 'one-nation' Tories had severe difficulties in seeing the anti-growth nature of some of the most anachronistic of traditional British institutions.
2001, David E. Hojman, “Economic Growth and Civil Society under Pinochet and Thatcher: A Political Economy Analysis of Free-Market Models in Chile and the United Kingdom”, in Frank H. Columbus, editor, Politics and Economics of Latin America, Volume 1, footnote, page 94The 'liberalism' issue that perplexed Catholics in the 1880s was by 1914 increasingly anachronistic, as political liberalism won resoundingly (in France), or lost resoundingly (in Austria), or became fragmented and divided (in Germany).
2004, John W. Boyer, “1: Catholics, Christians and the Challenges of Democracy: The Heritage of the Nineteenth Century”, in Wolfram Kaiser, Helmut Wohnout, editors, Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945, volume 1, page 22In their daily practices, journalists often perpetuated ageing and increasingly anachronistic ideologies, but they were rarely, in fact, dominated by them.
2013, Brian Moeran, Asian Media Productions, page 104Synonyms: anachronous, anachronistical, antiquated, obsolete, antichronical, dated, outdated
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveErroneous in date; containing an anachronism; in a wrong time; not applicable to or not appropriate for the time.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivechronologically misplaced
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂en-
- Proto-Hellenic*aná
- Ancient Greekᾰ̓νᾰ́ (ănắ)
- Ancient Greekᾰ̓νᾰ- (ănă-)
- Ancient Greekχρόνος (khrónos)
- Ancient Greekχρονῐ́ζω (khronĭ́zō)
- Ancient Greekᾰ̓νᾰχρονῐ́ζομαι (ănăkhronĭ́zomai)
- Ancient Greekἀναχρονισμός (anakhronismós)
- New Latinanachronismus
- Englishanachronism
- Englishanachronist
- Englishanachronistic
From anachronist + -ic.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Brazilian Portuguese anacrônico, anacrônico
- anacrônicoerroneous in date
- anacrônicopreferring past things and values
Catalan anacrònic
- anacrònicerroneous in date
Chinese Mandarin 不合時代 /不合时代, 不合時宜 /不合时宜
- 不合時代 /不合时代 (bùhéshídài)erroneous in date
- 不合時宜 /不合时宜 (bùhéshíyí)erroneous in date
Dutch anachronistisch
- anachronistischerroneous in date
Esperanto anakronisma
- anakronismaerroneous in date
European Portuguese anacrónico, anacrónico
- anacrónicoerroneous in date
- anacrónicopreferring past things and values
Finnish epäajanmukainen, anakronistinen
- epäajanmukainenerroneous in date
- anakronistinenerroneous in date
- aikaan sopimatonerroneous in date
French anachronique
- anachroniqueerroneous in date
German anachronistisch, fehldatiert
- anachronistischerroneous in date
- fehldatierterroneous in date
- zeitwidrigerroneous in date
- anachronistischpreferring past things and values
- altmodischpreferring past things and values
- veraltetpreferring past things and values
- überkommenpreferring past things and values
- antiquiertpreferring past things and values
- traditionalistischpreferring past things and values
- obsoletpreferring past things and values
- unzeitgemäßpreferring past things and values
Greek αναχρονιστικός
- αναχρονιστικός (anachronistikós)erroneous in date
Hebrew אֲנַכְרוֹנִיסְטִי
- אֲנַכְרוֹנִיסְטִי (anakhronisti)erroneous in date
Hungarian anakronisztikus
- anakronisztikuserroneous in date
Irish mí-aimseartha
- mí-aimsearthaerroneous in date
Italian anacronistico
- anacronisticoerroneous in date
Japanese 時代錯誤の
- 時代錯誤の (jidaisakugo no)erroneous in date
Korean 시대 착오
- 시대 착오 (sidae chago)erroneous in date
Latin anachronicus, anachronisticus
- anachronicuserroneous in date
- anachronisticuserroneous in date
Polish anachroniczny, anachroniczny
- anachronicznyerroneous in date
- anachronicznypreferring past things and values
Romanian anacronic
- anacronicerroneous in date
Russian анахрони́ческий, анахрони́чный
- анахрони́ческий (anaxroníčeskij)erroneous in date
- анахрони́чный (anaxroníčnyj)erroneous in date
Spanish anacrónico, anacrónico
- anacrónicoerroneous in date
- anacrónicopreferring past things and values
Tagalog laos na
- laos naerroneous in date
Cite this entry
anachronistic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anachronistic
“anachronistic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anachronistic. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anachronistic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anachronistic.
Source: anachronistic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.