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coeval

coeval

1 9.9
A person who lived at the same time as someone else
  • noun
  • /koʊˈiːvəl/
translation icon : coetáneo
  • Nevertheless, she appears to be essentially content with her own company: Bill takes it as a mark of their shared independent-spiritedness that while most of their coevals lounge sociably about at poolside between activities, Zhedi, like him, prefers the uncrowded far end of the beach.

Examples

  • She and her coevals enjoyed playing games together after school.

  • And yet, Monet's artistic pursuits on Belle-le were not all that different from those of his more adventurous coevals.

    Academic text (2015)
  • An older term from anthropology is Johannes Fabian's "coeval," used to indicate ethical temporal relation between ethnographers and indigenous subjects (Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object).

    Academic text (2016)
  • During the conference, he connected with his coevals who shared similar interests.

  • The artist displayed works alongside those of his coevals from the same era.

Synonyms

contemporary
vscoeval
32 4.3

A person who lives at the same time as another, often of similar age

is used to stress being the same age or a peer rather than timing
contemp
vscoeval
  • Informal
9.9

A person who lived at the same time as someone else

is the full term and not a shortened informal form

How Contemporary

Twin
72 6.8
coeval
1 9.9
peer
285 2.9

Surface Forms

coeval singular
coevals plural

Etymology

Coeval comes from Latin parts co- 'together' and aevum 'age', the same root you see in medieval. So a coeval is someone who lived at the same time as another, literally a person 'of the same age'.