[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/contemporaneous/)

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# contemporaneous

adjective (contemporaneous)

«contemporaneous» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (formal) Existing or happening at the same time as something else: «contemporaneous accounts of the battle». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#m1)
2. Contemporaneous notes or records: written down at the time something happened, not later. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#m2)

### In the lessons

In history lessons, «contemporaneous sources» (also called primary sources or contemporary sources) are records written at the time of an event, such as diaries, letters and newspapers; historians trust them more about details than later retellings. In law, police make contemporaneous notes. Phrases: «contemporaneous with», «contemporaneous accounts», «contemporaneous records».

### Examples

- Samuel Pepys wrote a contemporaneous account of the Great Fire of London. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#x1)
- The dinosaurs were not contemporaneous with humans. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#x2)
- Historians compared two contemporaneous reports of the battle. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#x3)
- The police officer made contemporaneous notes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#x4)
- The building of the two castles was roughly contemporaneous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#x5)
- Diaries are useful because they are contemporaneous with the events. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/#x6)

### Note

Very formal. Said «kon-tem-puh-RAY-nee-us». It is close to «contemporary», but «contemporary» can also mean «modern, of today» (contemporary art), while «contemporaneous» only means «of the same time as something else». A common myth in cartoons is that dinosaurs and cave people lived together; they were not contemporaneous: the last big dinosaurs died about 66 million years before humans.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «contemporaneous» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemporaneous/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«contemporaneous» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/contemporaneous.html) on Mova free.