In the title compound, C21H16O, the dihedral angle between the anthracene ring system and the benzene ring is 74.3 (5)°. The anthracene ring system is essentially planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0257 Å) and the meth-oxy group lies in the plane of the benzene ring [C1-O1-C2-C7 torsion angle = 0.5 (2)°]. The crystal structure features π-π [centroid-centroid distance = 3.9487 (12) Å] and C-H⋯π inter-actions, forming a sheet running along the a-axis direction.