Wiktionary

contemporary

English

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Etymology

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From Medieval Latin contemporārius, from Latin con- (“with, together”) + temporārius, an adjective derived from tempus (“time”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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contemporary (comparative more contemporary, superlative most contemporary)

  1. From the same time period, coexistent in time; contemporaneous.
    Synonyms: coetaneous, coeval, contemporaneous; see also Thesaurus:contemporary
    Antonym: anachronistic (approximately)
    • a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, Claudian's Old Man of Verona‎[1]:
      A neighb'ring Wood born with himself he sees, / And loves his old contemporary trees.
    • 1721, John Strype, “A Notable Book Came Forth, Called, ’’A Supplication of the Poor Commons to the King’’; Shewing the Late State of the Kingdom. […]”, in Ecclesiastical Memorials; Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of It: Shewing the Various Emergencies of the Church of England, under King Henry the Eighth. […], volume I, London: […] John Wyat, […], →OCLC, page 407:
      As this King [Henry VIII] vvas contemporary vvith the greateſt Monarchs of Europe, viz. the Emperor, the Kings of Spain and France, ſo he vvas engaged in many VVars, and in divers Leagues and Pacifications vvith them or either of them; for the better conſulting the Peace of Mankind.
  3. Modern, of the present age (shorthand for ‘contemporary with the present’).
    Synonyms: current, modern; see also Thesaurus:present
    Antonyms: archaic, coming
    • 2012 January, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist‎[2], volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 November 2012, page 23:
      We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.
    • 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club‎[3]:
      Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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contemporary (plural contemporaries)

  1. Someone or something belonging to the same time period (as someone or something else)
    Cervantes was a contemporary of Shakespeare.
    The early mammals inherited the earth by surviving their saurian contemporaries.
    • 2018 January 1, Donald McRae, “The Guardian footballer of the year 2017: Juan Mata”, in the Guardian‎[4]:
      Life is predicated by the decisions and choices we make – and, earlier this year, the personal fused with the professional again as Mata reached the landmark moment when he knew he had to try to harness football’s power for the benefit of people less fortunate than him and his contemporaries.
  2. Something existing at the same time.
    1. (dated) A rival newspaper or magazine.
      • 1900, The Speaker, the Liberal Review, volume 2, page 621:
        Annexation therefore was inevitable; but (as I have said above) it was not necessarily of prime importance in our national policy, and there has been no need to exaggerate—as I fear many of our contemporaries have exaggerated— […]

Translations

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Further reading

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