contemporary

[ kuhn-tem-puh-rer-ee ]

adjective

1. existing, occurring, or living at the same time; belonging to the same time:

   Newton's discovery of the calculus was contemporary with that of Leibniz.

   Synonyms: coexistent, simultaneous, concurrent

2. of about the same age or date:

   a Georgian table with a contemporary wig stand.

3. of the present time; modern:

   a lecture on the contemporary novel.

noun

, plural con·tem·po·rar·ies.

1. a person belonging to the same time or period with another or others.
2. a person of the same age as another.

contemporary

/ kənˈtɛmprərɪ /

adjective

1. belonging to the same age; living or occurring in the same period of time
2. existing or occurring at the present time
3. conforming to modern or current ideas in style, fashion, design, etc
4. having approximately the same age as one another

noun

1. a person living at the same time or of approximately the same age as another
2. something that is contemporary
3. journalism a rival newspaper

Usage

Since contemporary can mean either of the same period or of the present period, it is best to avoid this word where ambiguity might arise, as in a production of Othello in contemporary dress. Modern dress or Elizabethan dress should be used in this example to avoid ambiguity

Derived Forms

• conˈtemporarily, adverb
• conˈtemporariness, noun

Other Words From

• con·tempo·rari·ly adverb
• con·tempo·rari·ness noun
• noncon·tempo·rary adjective noun plural noncontemporaries
• postcon·tempo·rary adjective
• ultra·con·tempo·rary adjective noun plural ultracontemporaries
• uncon·tempo·rary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of contemporary¹

First recorded in 1625–35; from Late Latin contemporārius, equivalent to Latin con- con- ( def ) + tempor- (stem of tempus “time”; temporal ¹( def ) ) + -ārius -ary ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of contemporary¹

C17: from Medieval Latin contemporārius, from Latin com- together + temporārius relating to time, from tempus time

Synonym Study

Contemporary, contemporaneous, coeval, coincident all mean happening or existing at the same time. Contemporary often refers to persons or their acts or achievements: Hemingway and Fitzgerald, though contemporary, shared few values. Contemporaneous is applied chiefly to events: the rise of industrialism, contemporaneous with the spread of steam power. Coeval refers either to very long periods of time—an era or an eon—or to remote or long ago times: coeval stars, shining for millenia with equal brilliance; coeval with the dawning of civilization. Coincident means occurring at the same time but without causal or other relationships: prohibition, coincident with the beginning of the 1920s.

Example Sentences

Brokerages get paid for their customers’ orders from market makers—contemporary versions of what Madoff’s trading company was.

From Quartz

If Robins had been a contemporary of Peter Gethers, he might have been a candidate for the Rotisserie League.

From Freakonomics

In contemporary times, researchers have sought to understand the ways in which rituals bind people together.

From Science News

Price does not contain all relevant information for many shoppers in a contemporary supermarket.

From Freakonomics

Which is why Haile’s contemporaries have been mostly forgiving about Scroll, the ad-free subscription service he teased for three years before finally launching widely six months ago.

From Digiday

Some contemporary police have military backgrounds to fall back on.

From The Daily Beast

That goes for its contemporary membership roster as well as for the photographers represented in the exhibition.

From The Daily Beast

Paris as depicted by contemporary photography appears… lackluster.

From The Daily Beast

But contemporary classical music has changed, and the field is now spawning many appealing and genre-bending works.

From The Daily Beast

According to contemporary reports, at several of the truces, there were rough soccer matches between the German and British sides.

From The Daily Beast

He was contemporary with Milton, and preferred before him by critics of the day, but has now sunk into oblivion.

From Project Gutenberg

But while the older schools of art delighted him, he followed with no less attention the movement of contemporary painting.

From Project Gutenberg

Why therefore did the elder Amati, contemporary and probably pupil of Gaspar di Salo, change the model and size of the instrument?

From Project Gutenberg

We gather that in our contemporary's opinion it is high time that our Universities recognised "the writing on the wall."

From Project Gutenberg

Decollat,” says a contemporary document, with a grim succinctness, “in castrum Londin: vulgo turris appellatur.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• new
• present-day