time warp

noun

: an anomaly, discontinuity, or suspension held to occur in the progress of time

time-warp

ˈtīm-ˌwȯrp

adjective

or time-warped

ˈtīm-ˌwȯrpt

Example Sentences

Walking into the castle was like entering a time warp.

Recent Examples on the Web Though the film supposedly takes place in the new millennium, its setting seems trapped in an inexplicable time warp, circa 1990. —

Dallasnews.com Staff, Dallas News, 13 Apr. 2023 Thousands of football fans in Tampa, many seen without masks and partying shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets as if in a pre-coronavirus time warp, are worrying health care professionals who fear the Super Bowl LV hoopla will become a COVID-19 super-spreader event. —

Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 8 Feb. 2021 Yet many are stuck in a time warp—structuring testing and assessment around easy-to-quantify assessments, still delivering learning in a fundamentally traditional way in line with curriculum requirements (albeit now with the assistance of technology) and still (sigh) often teaching to the test. —

Al Kingsley, Forbes, 27 Jan. 2023 Even shopping for flare leggings is a time warp. —

Halie Lesavage, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 Oct. 2022 These shows existed in a time warp. —

Time, 20 Sep. 2022 The first half of 2020 has been a time warp. —

Caille Millner, SFChronicle.com, 26 June 2020 The pandemic also acted as a time warp that completely upended the entire industry. —

Esther Tseng, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2023 Only the back end of this time warp comes with the lesson and baggage of everything that followed Alabama’s arrival in College Station. —

Michael Casagrande | Mcasagrande@al.com, al, 4 Oct. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'time warp.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.