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

contemporaries plural

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

Synonym Usage

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• contemporaries
  plural

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

See Examples For:

contemporary contemporaries

Lycett has worked with other local contemporary artists on the collection, including his own mum, who took up painting watercolours after retiring as a designer at Cadbury.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

"Such productions bridge Greece’s rich cultural heritage with contemporary creativity," Mitsotakis said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

“We’re trying to shift the classical barre workout to be more contemporary through the music and the environment,” owner Kim Thompson says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

That insight is taken up in a series of forewords by contemporary writers, and here the results are uneven.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

He read contemporary American fiction, because he hoped to find a resonance, a shaping of his longings, a sense of the America that he had imagined himself a part of.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

As the exhibit’s days count down, the inspired visions from Kahlo, Rivera and their contemporaries continue to transfix visitors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

The 88-year-old died at his home in London earlier this month, prompting tributes from his contemporaries in the art world, the prime minister and senior members of the Royal Family.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

The author charts a direct line from the writings of Vane and Locke through those of American Patriots such as John Adams and his contemporaries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

Those things could be left to his contemporaries.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

The young Cicero was a shrimp and dweeb, confessing that he wrote poetry in the hours his contemporaries dedicated to “parties and gambling and ball games. ”

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Related Words

• new
• present-day