What does contemporaries mean?

Answer 1

Contemporary means "at the same time as", being constructed from the prefix "con-" meaning together and "tempus" meaning time. Your contemporaries are the people who are alive at the same time you are. If two objects are contemporary, they are from the same time period.

Contemporary also means modern or new, implying that it is contemporary with the people speaking. If, say, a drawing was said to be contemporary 100 years ago, it means that it was modern then- but not anymore
things made during the same time period:

i.e. if two different writers were both writing in the same time frame, their works would be contemporary to one another, in other words, "uncle sam wants you" and "buy war bonds" posters would be considered WWII contemporary.

Answer 2

Contemporary means "at the same time as", being constructed from the prefix "con-" meaning together and "tempus" meaning time. Your contemporaries are the people who are alive at the same time you are. If two objects are contemporary, they are from the same time period.

Contemporary also means modern or new, implying that it is contemporary with the people speaking. If, say, a drawing was said to be contemporary 100 years ago, it means that it was modern then- but not anymore
things made during the same time period:

i.e. if two different writers were both writing in the same time frame, their works would be contemporary to one another, in other words, "uncle sam wants you" and "buy war bonds" posters would be considered WWII contemporary.