Contemporarius

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Belonging to the same time period as another ; existing at an identical era as something else
2. Characterized by occurrence or origin during an equivalent historical timeframe as something else ; describing entities or events from a shared epoch
3. Pertaining to people, things, or events that take place within the same span of time as another ; being associated with simultaneous historical periods

Etymology: Latin speakers built "contemporarius" from "com-", meaning "together," and "tempus," meaning "time," with the adjective suffix "-arius." Literally, it described things that happened at the same time. The longer "contemporaneus" was the more common classical form, and the shorter variant gained ground in later Latin before passing into English. The root "tempus" also gave English "temporal," "temporary," and "tense," so this term belongs to the same family as words about time. The prefix does the work here: "com-" joins the ordinary idea of time to produce the sense of shared timing, and that sense remains in the English adjective.

Synonyms: contemporary, modern, coexisting, current, present-day

Antonyms: ancient, old, obsolete, former, past