What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Temporary vs Contemporary - What's the difference?

temporary | contemporary |

As adjectives the difference between temporary and contemporary

is that temporary is not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time while contemporary is from the same time period, coexistent in time.

As nouns the difference between temporary and contemporary

is that temporary is one serving for a limited time; short-term employee while contemporary is someone or something living at the same time, or of roughly the same age as another.

temporary

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time.
  • Existing only for a short time or short times; transient, ephemeral.

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Noun

    (temporaries)
  • One serving for a limited time; short-term employee.

    • Synonyms

    * temp

    contemporary

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • From the same time period, coexistent in time.
  • * Cowley
    • A grove born with himself he sees, / And loves his old contemporary trees.
  • * Strype
    • This king was contemporary with the greatest monarchs of Europe.
  • Modern, of the present age.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Robert L. Dorit , title=Rereading Darwin , volume=100, issue=1, page=23 , magazine= citation , passage=We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.}}
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 24 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3 , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.}}
  • Relatively recent

    • Synonyms

    * contemporaneous

    Antonyms

    * anachronistic: in the wrong time period * archaic

    Noun

    (contemporaries)
  • 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 .
  • Something existing at the same time.

    • External links

    * * *