[con.tem.po.rary] adj [com- + L tempor-, tempus] (1631) 1: happening, existing, living, or coming into being during the same period of time
2. a: simultaneous b: marked by characteristics of the present period: modern, current -- con.tem.po.rar.i.ly adv syn contemporary, contemporaneous, coeval, synchronous, simultaneous, coincident mean existing or occurring at the same time. contemporary is likely to apply to people and what relates to them "Abraham Lincoln was contemporary with Charles Darwin". contemporaneous applies to events "contemporaneous accounts of the kidnapping". coeval refers usu. to periods, ages, eras, eons "two stars thought to be coeval". synchronous implies exact correspondence in time and esp. in periodic intervals "synchronous timepieces". simultaneous implies correspondence in a moment of time "the two shots were simultaneous". coincident is applied to events and may be used in order to avoid implication of causal relationship "the end of World War II was coincident with a great vintage year".
[2]contemporary n, pl -rar.ies (1646) 1: one that is contemporary with another
2: one of the same or nearly the same age as another