Contemporary vs. Historical

Contemporary vs. Historical — Is There a Difference?
ADVERTISEMENT

Difference Between Contemporary and Historical

Contemporaryadjective

From the same time period, coexistent in time.

Historicaladjective

Of, concerning, or in accordance with recorded history, (particularly) as opposed to legends, myths, and fictions.

July 4, 1776, is a historic date. A great deal of historical research has been done on the events leading up to that day.The historical works of Lord Macaulay and Edward Gibbon are in and of themselves historic.

Contemporaryadjective

Modern, of the present age.

Historicaladjective

About history; depicting persons or events from history.

Contemporarynoun

Someone or something living at the same time, or of roughly the same age as another.

Cervantes was a contemporary of Shakespeare.The early mammals inherited the earth by surviving their saurian contemporaries.

Historicaladjective

Of, concerning, or in accordance with the past generally.

ADVERTISEMENT

Contemporarynoun

Something existing at the same time.

Historicaladjective

Set in the past.

Contemporarynoun

(dated) A rival newspaper or magazine.

Historicaladjective

(uncommon) Former, erstwhile; lapsed, nominal.

Contemporarynoun

a person of nearly the same age as another

Historicaladjective

(grammar) One of various tenses or moods used to tell about past events, historic (tense).

ADVERTISEMENT

Contemporaryadjective

characteristic of the present;

contemporary trends in designthe role of computers in modern-day medicine

Historicaladjective

synonym of hereditaryor evolutionary.

Contemporaryadjective

belonging to the present time;

contemporary leaders

Historicaladjective

Of, concerning, or in accordance with the scholarly discipline of history.

The Royal Historical SocietyThe State Historical Society of Wisconsin

Contemporaryadjective

occurring in the same period of time;

a rise in interest rates is often contemporaneous with an increase in inflationthe composer Salieri was contemporary with Mozart

Historicaladjective

Done in the manner of a historian: written as a development over time or in accordance with the historical method.

Historicaladjective

(uncommon) lang=en: important or likely to be important to history and historians.

Historicaladjective

Forming compound adjectives with the meaning "historical/~" or "historically":

Historicalnoun

A historical romance.

Historicaladjective

of or relating to the study of history;

historical scholarsa historical perspective

Historicaladjective

having once lived or existed or taken place in the real world as distinct from being legendary;

the historical Jesusdoubt that a historical Camelot every existedactual historical events

Historicaladjective

belonging to the past; of what is important or famous in the past;

historic victorieshistorical (or historic) timesa historical character

Historicaladjective

used of the study of a phenomenon (especially language) as it changes through time;

diachronic linguistics