Modern (adjective)
Pertaining to a current or recent time and style; not ancient.
“Our online interactive game is a modern approach to teaching about gum disease.”
“Although it was built in the 1600s, the building still has a very modern look.”
Modern (adjective)
Pertaining to the modern period (c.1800 to contemporary times), particularly in academic historiography.
Modern (noun)
Someone who lives in modern times.
Contemporary (adjective)
From the same time period, coexistent in time.
Contemporary (adjective)
Modern, of the present age.
Contemporary (noun)
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.”
Contemporary (noun)
Something existing at the same time.
Contemporary (adjective)
living or occurring at the same time
“the event was recorded by a contemporary historian”
Contemporary (adjective)
dating from the same time
“this series of paintings is contemporary with other works in an early style”
Contemporary (adjective)
belonging to or occurring in the present
“the tension and complexities of our contemporary society”
Contemporary (adjective)
following modern ideas in style or design
“contemporary ceramics by leading potters”
Contemporary (noun)
a person or thing living or existing at the same time as another
“he was a contemporary of Darwin”
Contemporary (noun)
a person of roughly the same age as another
“my contemporaries at school”