Meanings
present singular third person contemporizes · participle present contemporizing · participle past contemporized · past contemporized · alternative contemporise
- To bring up to date; often specifically to set a historical narrative in a modern context
In the few instances where the initial description is couched in the past tense, immediate reversal occurs and the scene is contemporized by the listener.
1948, Gordon Allport, Leo Postman, The Psychology of Rumor, page 91 - businessTo modify, repackage, or present a well-known or traditional product or brand in a way that appeals to contemporary consumers.
Oscar Mayer tapped him to try to find some way to reposition bologna and other troubled meats that were declining in popularity and sales...when Drane began working on the project, his orders were to “figure out how to contemporize what we’ve got.”
2013, Michael Moss, “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”, in The New York Times Magazine
Synonyms & antonyms
verbarrange or represent events so that they co-occur
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Spanish contemporizar
- contemporizarTranslations
Cite this entry
contemporize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contemporize
“contemporize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contemporize. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contemporize,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contemporize.
Source: contemporize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.