/ kənˈtemprəri; NAmE -pəreri/ adjective , noun
■ adjective
1.
contemporary (with sb/sth) belonging to the same time :
We have no contemporary account of the battle (= written near the time that it happened) .
He was contemporary with the dramatist Congreve.
2.
belonging to the present time
SYN modern :
life in contemporary Britain
contemporary fiction / music / dance
■ noun
( pl. -ies ) a person who lives or lived at the same time as sb else, especially sb who is about the same age :
She and I were contemporaries at college.
He was a contemporary of Freud and may have known him.
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 17th cent.: from medieval Latin contemporarius , from con- together with + tempus , tempor- time (on the pattern of Latin contemporaneus and late Latin contemporalis ).