different between classical vs contemporary

English

Etymology

See classic § Etymology for history; surface analysis, class +? -ical = class + -ic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?klæs?kl?/
• Hyphenation: clas?si?cal

Adjective

classical (comparative more classical, superlative most classical)

1. Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
2. Of or pertaining to established principles in a discipline.
3. (music) Describing Western music and musicians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
4. (informal, music) Describing art music (rather than pop, jazz, blues, etc), especially when played using instruments of the orchestra.
5. Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, especially to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds.
   • 1853, Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Atterbury, Francis" in Encyclopædia Britannica (8th ed.). Dated through The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, page 344

     He [Atterbury] directed the classical studies of the undergraduates of his college.

6. Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined

   classical dance.

   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume 1, page 151.

     Classical, provincial, and national synods.

7. (physics) Pertaining to models of physical laws that do not take quantum or relativistic effects into account; Newtonian or Maxwellian.
8. (cryptography) In contrast to quantum computing; pertaining to cryptographic algorithms that are not designed to resist attack by quantum computers, or cryptanalysis that does not take quantum computer capabilities into account. In some contexts may instead refer to older cryptographic algorithms, e.g. classical ciphers.

Usage notes

Various usage advisers give various prescriptions for differentiating classic from classical by word sense distinctions and by collocational idiomaticness (that is, according to the way in which certain collocations tend to use one suffix more than the other idiomatically). For example (as pointed out by various authorities, including Bryan Garner in Garner's Modern English Usage, fourth edition), classical tends to be preferred in the sense referring to "the classics" (in ancient literature, modern literature, or music), although classic also sometimes serves in this sense. For copyeditorially inclined users of English, it is useful to know the twin pair of descriptive facts that apply to many usage prescriptions: the prescriptions are not invariably followed in respectable formal writing, but nonetheless it is widely considered preferable style to avoid flouting them.

Synonyms

• classic (see Usage notes regarding differentiation.)

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

classical (countable and uncountable, plural classicals)

1. (countable) One that is classical in some way; for example, a classical economist.
   • 2002, James E Hartley, James E. Hartley, The Representative Agent in Macroeconomics, Routledge (?ISBN), page 120:

     Similarly, the new classicals never claimed to be Austrians, nor did they ever make the attempt to meet Austrian objections. Therefore, we cannot fault them for not using this methodology. Nevertheless, new classicals constantly preach […]

2. (uncountable) Short for classical music.

Further reading

• classical in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• classical at OneLook Dictionary Search
• classical, classic at Google Ngram Viewer

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1631, from Medieval Latin contemporarius, from Latin con- (“with, together”) + temporarius (“of time”), from tempus (“time”)

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /k?n?t?m.p?????.i/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /k?n?t?m.p(?).???.i/, (nonstandard) /k?n?t?m.p(?).?i/

Adjective

contemporary (comparative more contemporary, superlative most contemporary)

1. From the same time period, coexistent in time; contemporaneous.
   • a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, Claudian's Old Man of Verona

     A neighb'ring Wood born with himself he sees, / And loves his old contemporary trees.

   • 1721, John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials

     This king was contemporary with the greatest monarchs of Europe.

3. Modern, of the present age (shorthand for ‘contemporary with the present’).

Synonyms

• (from the same time period): contemporaneous; see also Thesaurus:contemporary
• (modern): current; see also Thesaurus:present

Antonyms

• (from the same time period): anachronistic: in the wrong time period
• (modern): archaic, coming

Derived terms

• contemporarily
• penecontemporary

Translations

Noun

contemporary (plural contemporaries)

1. Someone or something living at the same time, or of roughly the same age as another.
2. Something existing at the same time.
   1. (dated) A rival newspaper or magazine.
      • 1900, The Speaker, the Liberal Review (volume 2, page 621)

        Annexation therefore was inevitable; but (as I have said above) it was not necessarily of prime importance in our national policy, and there has been no need to exaggerate—as I fear many of our contemporaries have exaggerated— […]

Translations

Further reading

• contemporary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• contemporary in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• contemporary at OneLook Dictionary Search