contemporaneous
Americanadjective
adjective
Synonym Usage
See contemporary.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of contemporaneous
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin contemporāneus, equivalent to con- con- + tempor- (stem of tempus “time”) + -āneus ( -ān(us) -an + -eus -eous )
Explanation
If you're born on the same day as your friend, you've got a contemporaneous birthday, or one that happens in the same period of time. Contemporaneous comes from the Latin prefix con- meaning "together with" and temporaneus, meaning "time." Two contemporaneous events happen together in time. Richard Nixon's presidency and the first man on the moon are contemporaneous — both happened at the same period of time in history.
Vocabulary lists containing contemporaneous
Ides, Eon, Epoch, and Era: Time-related Words
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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This Week in Words: April 14 - 20, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He ably discusses the epidemic without veering too far into scientific details, and brings color to his story by drawing on contemporaneous accounts in big-city newspapers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
Likewise, if the lawyer has contemporaneous notes stating the client authorized settlement, those could support the lawyer’s position.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
They are three people who watched the fire get lit and, by their own contemporaneous words, knew exactly what was burning.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
In recent years, the central bank’s answer to these questions has largely been data dependence—using contemporaneous data to determine whether policy is overly restrictive or accommodative.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
It is a thousand years old, roughly contemporaneous with a report of an organ at Winchester Cathedral that boasted an extraordinary four hundred pipes.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
