contemporary

adjective

1. 1

   From the same time period, coexistent in time; contemporaneous.

   A neighb'ring Wood born with himself he sees, / And loves his old contemporary trees.

   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.

2. 2

   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.

   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.

noun

1. 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.

   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.

   More than most of her contemporaries on “LeftTube,” [Contrapoints] has a style; her editorial signature is an unmistakably ornate flourish.

2. 2

   Something existing at the same time.

3. 3

   datedSomething 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— […]

Forms

plural

contemporaries

comparative

more contemporary

superlative

most contemporary