Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use anachronism in a sentence

12 example sentences · noun

Anachronism means a chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object. Example: “He spoiled the pattern; like Alvin, he was an anachronism.”

Examples of anachronism by meaning

nounA person or thing which seems to belong to a different time or period of time.

  • He spoiled the pattern; like Alvin, he was an anachronism.1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 32
  • There exist in Europe a number of independent or semi-independent countries which are complete anachronisms, they are mini-countries which have little business existing in this hurly-burly century, but somehow they survive.1971, Ken Welsh, Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe, revised and updated edition, London: Pan, published 1975, page 142
  • We're also witnessing the passing of something even more profound - a culture of working-class masculinity that has become an anachronism in the modern world.2009 May 20, Margaret Wente, “We are witnessing the passing of working-class masculinity”, in The Globe and Mail, archived from the...

More sentences with anachronism

  • This is not just a wilful anachronism, it is flatly untrue.2022 July 18, Martin Pengelly, “I grew up where Liz Truss did, attended the same school. She’s not telling you the truth”, in The Guardian. From the entry red wall
  • In such a very chronological book, though, small anachronisms do obtrude.2010 August 7, Colin Greenland, The Guardian. From the entry obtrude
  • Pure anachronism! says the survival theory;—anachronism for which deanthropomorphization of the imagination is the remedy required.1902, William James, “Lecture XX: Conclusions”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.…. From the entry deanthropomorphization
  • Outside Russia, the Cossacks tend to be viewed as cartoonish anachronisms, with their whips, papakha fur hats and horses.2015 August 4, Andrew E. Kramer, “Cossacks Face Grim Reprisals From Onetime Allies in Eastern Ukraine”, in New York Times. From the entry papakha
  • "Isn't the English national team an anachronism?" asks Ulrich Steckelberg.2014 June 20, Nick Miller, “England out of World Cup 2014 – reaction as it happened”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London…. From the entry Hannoverian
  • The boundless aspirationalism even among its most marginalised people is one of its most striking and perplexing anachronisms.2010 July 13, Mary O'Hara, “It's the people who provide a real insight into US politics”, in The Guardian. From the entry aspirationalism
  • Remnant exemplars of the coelacanth, the tuatara, the Joshua tree are anachronisms more at home in previous than present environments.1985, David Lowenthal, The Past is a Foreign Country, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 242. From the entry hoary
  • But is nautilus really an anachronism?1986 October 23, Martin Wells, “Legend of the Living Fossil”, in Michael Kenward, editor, New Scientist, volume 112, number 1531, London…. From the entry living fossil
  • The anachronism of the king's deixis also has an anachoric component: the plains of Moab are transformed into three distinct locations identified by Balaack as "Cittye, castle, and ryvere".2009, Robert W. Barrett, Against All England: Regional Identity and Cheshire Writing, page 60. From the entry anachoric

Meaning of anachronism

  1. noun A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object.
  2. noun A person or thing which seems to belong to a different time or period of time.
  3. noun The aberrant projection of the present onto the past.

Full definition of anachronism

Questions about anachronism in a sentence

How do you use anachronism in a sentence?
Anachronism is used as a noun. For example: “He spoiled the pattern; like Alvin, he was an anachronism.”
What is a short sentence with anachronism?
“But is nautilus really an anachronism?”
What does anachronism mean?
Anachronism means a chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: anachronism (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use anachronism in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/anachronism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.