Essential Word Roots: It's About Time: Chron and Temp

Take the time to learn these words that contain either the Latin root temp or the Greek root chron, both of which mean "time."
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. anachronism
    an artifact that belongs to another time
    In an age of celebrity chefs, glossy coffee-table books and multimedia cooking websites, the community cookbook may seem an anachronism, a dog-eared remnant of church suppers and Junior League fund-raisers. New York Times
  2. anachronistic
    chronologically misplaced
    Thus it is important to see that when we hail Theodoric as an important scientist our judgement is essentially anachronistic: he did not seem important to his contemporaries or successors, and his influence is negligible. The Invention of Science
  3. asynchronous
    not occurring or existing at the same time
    Some online programs offer asynchronous learning, where a student meets deadlines on their own time. US News
  4. chronic
    long-lasting or characterized by long suffering
    The term chronic pain captures nothing of the grinding, constant, ceaseless, inescapable hurt. Turtles All the Way Down
  5. chronicle
    record in order or make a historical record of
    Aside from her hardships, the other thing Boori Ma liked to chronicle was easier times. Interpreter of Maladies
  6. chronograph
    a device for recording time with great precision
    She was wearing a wristwatch, a military-looking one that looked rather like a navigator’s chronograph. Nine Stories
  7. chronological
    relating to or arranged according to the order of time
    Even the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the official keeper of the world’s time and arbiter of all things chronological, planned to be swamped by the revelers. Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
  8. chronology
    a record of events in the order of their occurrence
    The first volume dealt with the interval from the Creation to the Flood, a period he took to be 432,000 years or about a hundred times longer than the Old Testament chronology. Cosmos
  9. chronometer
    an accurate clock (especially used in navigation)
    They watched the hands on the chronometer creep toward seven o’clock, and then from far below came a distant blast of the factory whistle. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World
  10. contemporary
    belonging to the present time
    They made themselves pay polite attention to the older art, though they both agreed they were more interested in the odd contemporary rooms. Habibi
  11. contretemps
    an awkward clash
    The rebels had annoyed them with fire from the Roxbury lines; some contretemps had begun amidst the warehouses of the Neck; and, no ground won or lost, two had died. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves
  12. extemporaneous
    with little or no preparation or forethought
    Many of the app’s users appear charmingly unpolished, posting shaky videos that cut their faces off at their foreheads or chins as they deliver breathless extemporaneous monologues. New York Times
  13. extemporize
    perform or speak without preparation
    “All the principal ingredients were extemporized off the top of my head. It was about a fortnight before I finished telling it to them the first time.” New York Times
  14. synchronicity
    the relation that exists when things occur at the same time
    As they flew down the last few hundred yards, their eight taut bodies rocked back and forth like pendulums, in perfect synchronicity. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
  15. synchronize
    adjust in time or manner to make the same
    Establishing these three calendars required advances in astronomy; synchronizing them required ventures into mathematics. 1491
  16. tempo
    the rate of some repeating event
    My breathing falls in time with my mother’s, with the tempo of the waves outside. Dreaming in Cuban
  17. temporal
    of or relating to or limited by time
    Laleh and I took two days off from school to get over our temporal displacement. Darius the Great Is Not Okay
  18. temporary
    not permanent; not lasting
    It was supposed to be a temporary position, but he’s still at it. Thirteen Reasons Why
Created on Tue Jun 20 16:21:41 EDT 2017 (updated Thu May 11 18:35:01 EDT 2023)

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