English Reference
Adjective

contemporaneous

adj.
C1 Advanced US /kənˌtɛmpɝˈeɪniəs/ UK /kəntˌɛmpɔːɹˈeɪniəs/ con·tem·po·ra·ne·ous

adj.happening or existing at the same time as something else. You use this to describe things that are from the same period in history.

adj.occurring or existing at the same time as another event or person. Often used to describe historical documents or events that are from the same era.


SIMPLE

The two events were contemporaneous.

CONTEXTUAL

The historian compared the contemporaneous accounts of the battle to understand what actually happened.

COMPLEX

While the two authors lived in different countries, their contemporaneous works reveal a shared concern for the social changes occurring during the late nineteenth century.

The dinosaur tracks from the Marshybank Formation near Tumbler Ridge, which are mostly ornithopods, resemble a similar discovery from the contemporaneous Frontier Formation in southwestern Montana .

Phys.org· 26 Aug 2026

Helen had extensive contemporaneous evidence, in the form of diaries and the people she told about the abuse soon afterwards, in addition to the forensic material.

The Guardian· 15 Aug 2026

From Latin contemporāneus (“contemporary”), from con- (“with”) + tempus (“time”) + -aneus (“of or pertaining to”) (compare Late Latin temporāneus (“opportune, timely”)).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin contemporāneus
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Occasional
Updated