contemporary
Syllables: con·tem·po·ra·ryUK/kənˈtɛm.p(ə.)ɹə.ɹi/US/kənˈtɛm.pəˌɹɛɹ.i/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
contemporary adjective: from the same time period, coexistent in time; contemporaneous.
Adjective
contemporary (comparative more contemporary, superlative most contemporary)
- From the same time period, coexistent in time; contemporaneous.
- A neighb'ring Wood born with himself he sees, / And loves his old contemporary trees.a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, Claudian's Old Man of Verona^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essays_(Cowley)/The_Dangers_of_an_Honest_Man_in_much_Company#Section23)
- 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.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...
- Synonyms:
- coetaneous, coeval, contemporaneous
- Antonyms:
- anachronistic
- Modern, of the present age (shorthand for ‘contemporary with the present’).
- 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 January, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2012, page 23
- 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...2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012
- Synonyms:
- current, modern, hodiern, de nos jours, present, present-day
Noun
contemporary (plural contemporaries)
- 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.
- Something existing at the same time.
- A rival newspaper or magazine.
- 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— […]1900, The Speaker, the Liberal Review, volume 2, page 621
- A rival newspaper or magazine.
contemporary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
contemporary in Hindi
- from the same time period
- समकालीन samkālīn, समसामयिक samsāmyik, समकक्ष samkakṣ
contemporary in Tamil
- உடனிகழ்வான, உடன் நிகழ்வான, உடன் வாழ்நர், ஒரே காலத்திற்குரிய, சம காலத்தவர், சமகாலத்திய
contemporary in Marathi
- contemporary, contemporaneous
- समकालीन samakālīn
contemporary in Urdu
- contemporary, concurrent
- معاصر mu'āsar, سمکالین samkālīn, ہم عصر ham 'asar
More languagesFewer languages
- contemporary in Bengali
- সমসাময়িক, সমকালীন, সমবয়স্ক, এককালীন
- contemporary in Telugu
- సమకాలీన samakālīna
- contemporary in Malayalam
- സമകാലിക samakālika
- contemporary in Kannada
- ಒಂದೇ ಸೂಳಿನ, ಒಟ್ಟಿಗಿರುವ, ಸಮಕಾಲಿನ
- contemporary in Sinhala
- අද්යතන, නූතන, සමකාලීනයා, සමකාලීන
- contemporary in Tagalog
- kapanahon, alinsabay, kasalukuyan
- contemporary in Arabic
- مُعَاصِر muʕāṣir, عَصْرِيّّ, حَدِيث ḥadīṯ
- contemporary in Malay
- sezaman, kontemporari
- contemporary in Indonesian
- kontemporer
- contemporary in Persian
- معاصر mo'âser, نوین novin
- contemporary in Vietnamese
- hiện đại
Examples of contemporary in a sentence
- Though Islam allows polygamy, it is frowned upon in many contemporary Muslim societies.
- Critics of contemporary culture generally posit a steep decline in cultural literacy.
- "SOS" has, in contemporary usage, been reanalyzed to stand for "save our souls".
Synonyms of contemporary
- coetaneous
- coeval
- contemporaneous
- current
- modern
- hodiern
- de nos jours
- present
- present-day
- coincident
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of contemporary
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more contemporary |
| superlative | most contemporary |
| Noun | |
| plural | contemporaries |
Origin of contemporary
From Medieval Latin contemporārius, from Latin con- (“with, together”) + temporārius, an adjective derived from tempus (“time”).
Words formed from contemporary
Phrases with contemporary
Questions about contemporary
- What does contemporary mean?
- Contemporary means from the same time period, coexistent in time; contemporaneous.
- What is contemporary in Hindi?
- Contemporary in Hindi is समकालीन (samkālīn), समसामयिक (samsāmyik), समकक्ष (samkakṣ). See Contemporary meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is contemporary?
- Contemporary can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce contemporary?
- Contemporary is pronounced /kənˈtɛm.p(ə.)ɹə.ɹi/ (UK).
Words near contemporary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contemporary (page history and authors); contemporary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); समकालीन (Marathi) (page history and authors); سمکالین (Urdu) (page history and authors); contemporary (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contemporary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contemporary (Sinhala Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “contemporary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contemporary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.