1. [n]  a person of nearly the same age as another
2. [adj]  belonging to the present time; "contemporary leaders"
3. [adj]  characteristic of the present; "contemporary trends in design"; "the role of computers in modern-day medicine"
4. [adj]  occurring in the same period of time; "a rise in interest rates is often contemporaneous with an increase in inflation"; "the composer Salieri was contemporary with Mozart"

Contemporary
This book is the first to explore fully the so-called `Contemporary` style that dominated architecture and design from the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. It was an era of optimism and confidence, where new ideas in architecture and design flourished alongside the emergent consumer culture. Mainly emanating from the USA, the `Contemporary` style was fresh and liberating, manifesting itself in the picture` window and the open plan; in new forms of furniture from Scandinavia and stylish light fittings from Italy; and most tellingly in the `Contemporary` kitchen with its fitted units and `mod con` appliances. The book examines the fresh and liberated design ideas of this buoyant era.

more details ...

1. \Con*tem"po*ra*ry\, a. [Pref. con- + L. temporarius
   of belonging to time, tempus time. See {Temporal}, and cf.
   {Contemporaneous}.]
   1. Living, occuring, or existing, at the same time; done in,
      or belonging to, the same times; contemporaneous.
            This king [Henry VIII.] was contemporary with the
            greatest monarchs of Europe.          --Strype.
   2. Of the same age; coeval.
            A grove born with himself he sees, And loves his old
            contemporary trees.                   --Cowley.
   

2. \Con*tem"po*ra*ry\, n.; pl. {Contemporaries}.
   One who lives at the same time with another; as, Petrarch and
   Chaucer were contemporaries.