Word of the Day for Wednesday April 12, 2006 coeval

coeval \koh-EE-vuhl\, adjective:1. Of the same age; originating or existing during the same period of time -- usually followed by 'with'.
noun:1. One of the same age; a contemporary.

• According to John Paul, this longing for transcendent truth is coeval with human existence: All men and women "shape a comprehensive vision and an answer to the question of life's meaning."-- "Culture, et cetera", Washington Times, October 6, 2000
• Coeval with human speech and found among all peoples, poetry appeals to our sense of wonder, to our unending quest for answers to the timeless questions of who we are and why we are.-- Mark Mathabane, "A Poet Can Lead Us Toward Change", Newsday, January 20, 1993
• Unhappily, however, the writers speak almost wholly to those who already regard Lewis as not just the coeval but the equal of T. S. Eliot, Joyce and Pound.-- Julian Symons, "Prophecy and Dishonor", New York Times, February 10, 1985
• The 1,500 years of [Barcelona's] existence had produced only five names that came easily to mind: the cellist Pau Casals, the artist Joan Miró and his somewhat tarnished coeval Salvador Dali, both of whom were still very much alive, and the dead architect Antoni Gaudí.-- Nicholas Shrady, "Glorious in Its Very Stones", New York Times, March 15, 1992

Coeval comes from Medieval Latin coaevus, from Latin co- + aevum, "a period of time, lifetime."