contemporize

American  

[kuhn-tem-puh-rahyz] / kənˈtɛm pəˌraɪz /

especially British, contemporise

verb (used with object)

contemporized, contemporizing

1. to place in or regard as belonging to the same age or time.

2. to give a modern or contemporary character or setting to; update.

   The new production of Romeo and Juliet contemporizes it as the love of two modern teenagers in a Chicago high school.

---

verb (used without object)

contemporized, contemporizing

1. to be contemporary.

contemporize British  

/ kənˈtɛmpəˌraɪz /

verb

1. to be or make contemporary; synchronize

---

Etymology

Origin of contemporize

1640–50; < Late Latin contempor- (stem of contemporāre to be at the same time), equivalent to con- con- + tempor- (stem of tempus time) + -ize

Example Sentences

“This gives us the opportunity to reimagine and contemporize coverage.”

From Seattle Times • May 11, 2023

Next on her agenda, she plans to contemporize works of Memphis-based photographer Ernest Withers for an upcoming show and to explore interactive and participatory art in her practice.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2023

OK, but they weren’t singing 21st-century pop ballads back then, and one of the movie’s biggest problems is its almost desperate determination to contemporize everything for a young audience.

From Washington Times • Dec. 20, 2017

To contemporize a midcentury home that he found in San Diego, architect John Ike expanded on the modernist ideal of integrating nature into the space and deviated from the style’s love of straight lines.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 29, 2016

Such estates seem to defy Time's tooth, and by conditions which take hold of the indestructible earth seem to contemporize their fee-simples with eternity.

From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Melville, Herman