coeval

American  

[koh-ee-vuhl] / koʊˈi vəl /

adjective

1. of the same age, date, or duration; equally old.

   Analysis has proved that this manuscript is coeval with that one.

2. coincident.

   Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were only approximately coeval.

---

noun

1. a contemporary.

   He is more serious than his coevals.

coeval British  

/ ˌkəʊɪˈvælɪtɪ, kəʊˈiːvəl /

adjective

1. of or belonging to the same age or generation

---

noun

1. a contemporary

Related Words

See contemporary.

Other Word Forms

• coevality noun
• coevally adverb

Etymology

Origin of coeval

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Late Latin coaev(us) (equivalent to co- “with, together” + -aevus, adjective derivative of aevum “age”) + -al adjective suffix; co-, -al ¹

Example Sentences

This approach examines only supernovae from young, coeval galaxies -- those with stars of similar ages -- across the entire redshift range.

From Science Daily • Nov. 6, 2025

He died at 94, his life nearly coeval with the 20th century.

From New York Times • Nov. 19, 2018

That’s what Deford was thinking about thirty years ago, when he wrote about Gus Johnson, Deford’s own preferred sporting coeval.

From The New Yorker • May 30, 2017

Martin Scorsese, Spielberg’s coeval and the director of roughly the same number of films, has helped five actors to Oscars.

From Slate • Jan. 30, 2012

Few of them narrate events previous to the invasion of Europe by the Turks in 1355, but some refer to facts coeval with the Mussulman empire in Adrianople. 

From Servian Popular Poetry by Bowring, John