Word.ws English Dictionary

contemporize

contemporize verb: to bring up to date; often specifically to set a historical narrative in a modern context.

Verb

contemporize (third-person singular simple present contemporizes, present participle contemporizing, simple past and past participle contemporized)

  1. To bring up to date; often specifically to set a historical narrative in a modern context
    • In the few instances where the initial description is couched in the past tense, immediate reversal occurs and the scene is contemporized by the listener.1948, Gordon Allport, Leo Postman, The Psychology of Rumor, page 91
  2. To modify, repackage, or present a well-known or traditional product or brand in a way that appeals to contemporary consumers.
    • Oscar Mayer tapped him to try to find some way to reposition bologna and other troubled meats that were declining in popularity and sales...when Drane began working on the project, his orders were to “figure out how to contemporize what we’ve got.”2013, Michael Moss, “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”, in The New York Times Magazine

Synonyms of contemporize

Forms of contemporize

third-person singular presentcontemporizes
present participlecontemporizing
past participlecontemporized
pastcontemporized
alternative formcontemporise

Origin of contemporize

From contemporary + -ize.

Words formed from contemporize

Questions about contemporize

What does contemporize mean?
Contemporize means to bring up to date; often specifically to set a historical narrative in a modern context.
What part of speech is contemporize?
Contemporize is a verb.
What is the past tense of contemporize?
The past tense of contemporize is contemporized.

Words near contemporize in the dictionary

  1. contemporised
  2. contemporises
  3. contemporising
  4. contemporization
  5. contemporizations
  6. contemporize
  7. contemporized
  8. contemporizes
  9. contemporizing
  10. contemps
  11. contempt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contemporize (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: “contemporize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contemporize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.