Temporary means lasting only a short time: "a temporary fix until the plumber comes." Contemporary means belonging to the present day, or existing at the same time as something else: "contemporary architecture," or "Dickens and his contemporary Thackeray." Contemporary never means short-lived, so if that is your meaning, temporary is the only choice.
The core difference
Both words come from Latin tempus, meaning time, but they answer different questions. Temporary answers how long? — not long. Contemporary answers when? — now, or at the same time as something else.
Using temporary
Temporary describes anything with a built-in end: a temporary contract, temporary traffic lights, a temporary loss of signal. It carries no judgement about quality, only about duration.
- She took a temporary job over the summer.
- The scaffolding is temporary; it comes down in March.
Using contemporary
Contemporary has two closely related senses. The first is modern, of the present moment: contemporary dance, contemporary fiction, contemporary politics. The second is of the same period as, and this one usually needs a second thing to anchor it: "Vermeer was contemporary with Rembrandt." It also works as a noun — your contemporaries are the people alive or working at the same time as you.
- The gallery only shows contemporary artists.
- The letters are contemporary with the events they describe, which is what makes them valuable.
The test
Try substituting short-lived. If the sentence still makes sense, you want temporary: "a short-lived arrangement" works, so "a temporary arrangement" is right. Now try substituting present-day or of the same era. If one of those fits, you want contemporary. The two tests never both pass on the same sentence.
The mistake to watch for
The commonest error is writing contemporary when the meaning is temporary — "we've set up a contemporary office" for a stopgap arrangement. This happens most often among speakers of languages where the equivalent of contemporary does cover both senses. In English it does not, and readers will take it to mean the office is fashionably designed.
A subtler trap sits inside contemporary itself. Because it can mean either modern or of that time, a phrase like "a contemporary account of the coronation" is ambiguous out of context: written now, or written then? Historians use it to mean the second. If there is any doubt, write a present-day account or an eyewitness account and remove the guesswork.
One more distinction worth keeping: temporal is a third relative, meaning relating to time (as opposed to eternal or spiritual). It is not a synonym for either word here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can something be both contemporary and temporary?
Yes, and the sentence will be clearer if you say so plainly: "a temporary contemporary art installation" is awkward, so write "a contemporary art installation, up for six weeks only." The words are not opposites — they simply describe different properties.
Is 'contemporary' the same as 'modern'?
Not quite. In everyday use they overlap, but in art, design and architecture, Modern refers to a specific historical movement roughly spanning the early to mid-twentieth century, while contemporary means being made now. A modern chair and a contemporary chair can look very different.