Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Belonging to the same period of time: a fact documented by two contemporary sources.
- adj. Of about the same age.
- adj. Current; modern: contemporary trends in design.
- n. One of the same time or age: Shelley and Keats were contemporaries.
- n. A person of the present age.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Living, existing, or occurring at the same time; contemporaneous: said of persons, things, or events.
- Specifically Living or existing at the same time with one's self.
- Of the same age; coeval.
- n. One living at the same time (with another).
Wiktionary
- adj. From the same time period, coexistent in time.
- adj. Modern, of the present age.
- n. Someone living at the same time.
- n. Any creature living at the same time.
- n. Something existing at the same time.
- n. Someone of roughly the same age as another.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Living, occuring, or existing, at the same time; done in, or belonging to, the same times; contemporaneous.
- adj. Of the same age; coeval.
- n. One who lives at the same time with another.
- n. a person of nearly the same age as another.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. characteristic of the present
- n. a person of nearly the same age as another
- adj. occurring in the same period of time
- adj. belonging to the present time
Etymologies
- Recorded since 1631, from Medieval Latin contemporarius, from Latin con- ("with, together") + temporarius ("of time"), from tempus ("time") (Wiktionary)
- Medieval Latin contemporārius : Latin com-, com- + Latin tempus, tempor-, time + Latin -ārius, -ary. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term contemporary formation is here taken in the sense attached to it by geologists, in speaking of beds of quartz in clay-slate, granular limestone in mica-slate or feldspar in gneiss.”
“This year, ABT invoked the word "contemporary" to describe the season's works, which included dances from 1979 to this year.”
The Wall Street Journal: ABT's City Center Season Worked Best With Ballet
“In the world of competitive dance conventions and, more recently, shows like So You Think You Can Dance, the word "contemporary" has morphed from a simple descriptor to its own quite specific and potentially limiting dance form.”
“In our not-so-distant past, the word "contemporary" simply meant, "occurring in the present.”
“I don't necessarily know how or why, but somewhere along the line the competitive dance scene think the little girls from Lifetime's Dance Moms and their high school counterparts hijacked the word "contemporary" from its simple dictionary definition.”
“- 'Say Yes to No' is the name of a Minnesota based movement designed to save children from what they define as the contemporary US 'yes' culture of self indulgence.”
“They were the kind of cutting edge of what we call contemporary Christian music because they were playing rock 'n roll and talking about their faith.”
“Dance Moms and their high school counterparts hijacked the word "contemporary" from its simple dictionary definition.”
“So You Think You Can Dance, the word "contemporary" has morphed from a simple descriptor to its own quite specific and potentially limiting dance form.”
“One of the great things about New York right now is there's a series of designers who make what we call 'contemporary' clothes, which are beneath the designer price point.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘contemporary’.
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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
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Impressionism
Words that describe the art of the impressionist era.
seascapes, landscapes, modern, impression, impressionist, contemporary, flicker, sensation, modernity, perceived, perceiving, momentary and 142 more...
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SCIE - mathematics
The most frequent words in the titles of mathematical books and journals (www.sciencedirect.com)
surface, administration, project, motion, machine, medical, vision, solid, shape, scheme, income, proceed and 205 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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art & art historical
chiaroscuro, architrave, column, capital, corinthian, dorice, entablature, frieze, ionic, sketch, abecedarian, abstraction and 124 more...
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Time
clock, forever, never, ever, ago, when, then, now, past, present, future, timeline and 119 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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voidwords
Any word or phrase considered to be a voidword or vacuism (i.e. virtually meaningless in general useage).
sustainable devel..., carbon neutral, empowerment, facilitate, proactive, globalisation, new, progressive, compassionate con..., modernism, postmodernism, inappropriate and 5 more...
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intueri's Words
inveigle, dolorous, archly, feckless, resplendent, concatenation, peripatetic, delightful, cookie, fey, ephemeral, effervescent and 347 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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Rare Books
Words used in the rare book trade (of which I was once a part). For more about how such books are put together, see hernesheir's excellent The Bindery.
foxing, gilt, headband, bumped, endpaper, leaf, colophon, vellum, laid paper, boards, device, engraving and 168 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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A Matter Of Time
Favorite time-related words.
vespertine, twilight, gloaming, eftsoon, eventide, dawn, eos, dusk, witching hour, ephemeral, candlemark, autumnal and 122 more...
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my list
executive, oxide, slang, paddy, calamity, pledge, carved, deliberate, vastly, tolerate, simultaneous, ornamental and 114 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for contemporary.
jeen0809 Contemporary architecture makes very good use of space. Mar 30, 2007
reesetee When referring to rare/antique books, this term means just the opposite of what you might assume it means. A contemporary binding, plate, or other book part means that it is of the period when the book was published; likewise, a contemporary signature or inscription was made the year of publication or thereabouts. Feb 22, 2007