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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

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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. )

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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

His library contained more than 600 volumes, ranging from Tacitus and Shakespeare to contemporary novelists, poets and dramatists.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

"Martine Rose embodies this spirit with a fresh, fearless and deeply contemporary vision."

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Games companies must keep innovating when linking contemporary audiences to the past, says Wulf, in order satisfy their desire for fresh experiences.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Its combination of contemporary finishes, expansive entertaining spaces, and outdoor amenities also makes it a distinctive offering in Charlotte’s luxury residential market.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

Most had religions that focused on human sacrifice, dark by contemporary standards, but their economic and scientific accomplishments were bright.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

James Wilson foresaw a country more egalitarian and more democratic than his contemporaries dared imagine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

“If you think about who her contemporaries and peers are, there’s something quite radical about her putting her body in so much of that work, especially that early work,” Grossman said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

“ANTM” and “The Swan” were contemporaries, after all.

From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026

Pollock's pay puts him well ahead of most of his contemporaries in the Prem however.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

As a result, there existed an unspoken yet real fear of Crick, especially among his contemporaries who had yet to establish their reputations.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

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Related Words

• new
• present-day

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