An anachronism is something that doesn't fit its time period, like if you say you'll "dial" your smartphone.

Anachronism comes from the Greek roots ana- which means "against" and chron- which means "time." Together they represent a situation in which something happens that should not because it belongs to another time period. You see anachronisms all the time in the movies — they occur when you see a jet fly over a Civil War battle! Or knights jousting over a maiden during the time of Shakespeare!

Definitions of anachronism

n something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred

misdating, mistiming
Type of:
the act or process of determining the time

n an artifact that belongs to another time

Type of:
artefact, artifact
a man-made object taken as a whole

n a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age

Type of:
anomaly, unusual person
a person who is unusual

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