Step 1: Break the word down - ana (backward) plus plasis (formation) implies de-differentiation, a backward step away from a mature specialized cell. Step 2: In tumor pathology this means anaplastic cells look primitive and have lost the structural and functional features that mark their parent tissue, signaling a high-grade malignancy. Step 3: Discard the metaplasia option (one epithelium replacing another), since that is a reversible adaptive switch, not loss of differentiation. Step 4: The remaining choices about chromatin and morphology are descriptive findings, not the core definition, so anaplasia equals lack of differentiation. \[\boxed{\text{Lack of differentiation}}\]