contemporary
[kuh n-tem-puh-rer-ee]
- 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.
- of about the same age or date: a Georgian table with a contemporary wig stand.
- of the present time; modern: a lecture on the contemporary novel.
Show More
- a person belonging to the same time or period with another or others.
- a person of the same age as another.
Show More
Origin of contemporary
Synonyms
See more synonyms for contemporary on Thesaurus.com1. coexistent, concurrent, simultaneous.
Synonym study
1. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
contemporary
- belonging to the same age; living or occurring in the same period of time
- existing or occurring at the present time
- conforming to modern or current ideas in style, fashion, design, etc
- having approximately the same age as one another
Show More
- a person living at the same time or of approximately the same age as another
- something that is contemporary
- journalism a rival newspaper
Show More
Word Origin
C17: from Medieval Latin contemporārius, from Latin com- together + temporārius relating to time, from tempus time
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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for contemporarily
contemporary
contemporary
n.
"one who lives at the same time as another," 1630s, originally cotemporary, from co- + temporary; modified by influence of contemporary (adj.). Replacing native time-fellow (1570s).
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper