The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.
One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time: "A new age had plainly dawned, an age that made the institution of a segregated picnic seem an anachronism"(Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)
[French anachronisme, from New Latin anachronismus, from Late Greek anakhronismos, from anakhronizesthai, to be an anachronism : Greek ana-, ana- + Greek khronizein, to take time (from khronos, time).] a·nach'ro·nis'tic, a·nach'ro·nous (-nəs) adj., a·nach'ro·nis'ti·cal·ly, a·nach'ro·nous·ly adv.