chronoclasm

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos, “time”), and κλάστης (klástēs, “a person who breaks something”); from κλάω (kláō, “break”).

Noun

chronoclasm (plural chronoclasms)

1. The intentional destruction of clocks and other time artifacts
2. (politics) The desire to crush the prevailing sense of time, due to a conflict regarding the fixation of linear time in a community
3. A temporarily frazzled mental state resulting from confusion over what time it is.
4. (science fiction) An interference with the course of history caused by time travel.

References

• Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism - E P Thompson - PDF-version
• Mastered By The Clock: Time, Slavery, and Freedom in the American South
• "Chronoclasm" John Wyndham, 1953