Meanings
present singular third person anachronizes · participle present anachronizing · participle past anachronized · past anachronized
- To refer to, or put into, a wrong time period.
The only fair comparison would be between him and that one of his contemporaries who endeavored to anachronize himself, so to speak, and to subject his art, so far as might be, to the laws of classical composition.
1873, James Russell Lowell, “Shakespeare Once More”, in Among My Books, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, page 198
Origin
- Ancient Greekἀναχρονισμός
- New Latinanachronismus
- Englishanachronize
From anachronism + -ize. 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”).
More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish anachronizować, zanachronizować
- anachronizowaćto refer to, or put into, a wrong time
- zanachronizowaćto refer to, or put into, a wrong time
Portuguese anacronizar
- anacronizarto refer to, or put into, a wrong time
Cite this entry
anachronize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anachronize
“anachronize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anachronize. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anachronize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anachronize.
Source: anachronize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.