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)
- 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
- 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 present | contemporizes |
|---|---|
| present participle | contemporizing |
| past participle | contemporized |
| past | contemporized |
| alternative form | contemporise |
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
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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “contemporize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contemporize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
