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Jan 4, 2006

This week's theme
Words related to time

This week's words
hesternal
perennial
anachronism
yestreen
bimester

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anachronism

1. The error of placing a person, object, custom, or event in the wrong historical period.

2. A person, thing, or practice that does not belong in a time period.

[From French anachronisme, from Latin anachronismus, from Greek anakhronismos, from ana-, (backwards) + khronos (time).]

See more usage examples of anachronism in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. Anachronism can be of two kinds: parachronism, when the assigned date is too late, and prochronism, when the date is too early. Even language can be fraught with anachronism. Imagine a science fiction story where the protagonist rides a time machine to go back some 500 years. While there, he comments how "nice" someone's dress is. Well, at that time the word nice would have meant "stupid". Sometimes anachronism can be unintentional, a story written in 1970 and set in 2000 that features the USSR, for example.

"The show starts off with a video presentation showing Wakagi, playing a news anchor, reporting on 'recent' events in Japan such as Commodore Perry's visit to the country. This kind of anachronism is repeated halfway through the show."
Zal Sethna; 'Cha Cha Cha' From Osaka's Lilliput Army II Makes Audience Go 'Ha ha ha'; Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo, Japan); March 6, 2004.

"GSLP/Liberals expressed support for the remarks made by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan that colonialism is an anachronism in the 21st century and the administering powers should work with the Committee of 24."
Gibraltar News; MercoPress (Montevideo, Uruguay); Feb 22, 2004.

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