contemporary

American  

[kuhn-tem-puh-rer-ee] / kənˈtɛm pəˌrɛr i /

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:

   simultaneous, concurrent, coexistent

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.

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noun

plural

contemporaries

1. a person belonging to the same time or period with another or others.

2. a person of the same age as another.

contemporary British  

/ 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

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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

Related Words

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.

Other Word Forms

• contemporarily
  adverb
• contemporariness
  noun
• noncontemporary
  adjective
• postcontemporary
  adjective
• ultracontemporary
  adjective
• uncontemporary
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of contemporary

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

Explanation

Things that are contemporary are either happening at the same time or happening now. Contemporary art is recent art. In history class, if you hear that one famous person was a contemporary of another, that means they lived at the same time. Contemporaries are people and things from the same time period. Contemporary can also describe things happening now or recently. It's common to speak of contemporary music or contemporary furniture, for example. Those things are new, not old. Anything characteristic of the present day can be called contemporary.

Example Sentences

The multi-year, first-look deal will feature some of Warner’s most recognizable artists like Madonna, and the late David Bowie and Frank Sinatra — as well as contemporary pop stars like Charli Xcx and Dua Lipa.

From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026

The result of all this history is the echo that still persists in the contemporary views of human-rights organizations, with their definitions of religious freedom as centered around the freedom to proselytize.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

While “The Visit” and “Real Women Have Curves” will be presented largely as is, “Passing Strange” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” directed by Jessica Kubzansky, will be lightly updated for contemporary audiences.

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026

AI is an able writer because it’s trained on vast troves of human writing, from literary classics to contemporary op-eds.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

Aeschylus, the oldest of the three tragic poets, was a contemporary of Pindar’s.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Related Words

• new
• present-day