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Feb 27, 2009
This week's themeWords to describe people This week's words contumacious lachrymose peripatetic obstreperous coeval This week's comments AWADmail 348 Next week's theme Terms from French 
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with Anu Gargcoeval
PRONUNCIATION:
(ko-EE-vuhl)
MEANING:
adjective: Having the same age or duration.noun: A contemporary. ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin coaevus, from co- (in common) + aevum (age), from Greek aion
(age). Ultimately from the Indo-European root aiw-/ayu- (vital force, life,
eternity) that is also the source of ever, never, aye, nay, eon, eternal,
medieval, primeval, utopia, Sanskrit Ayurveda.
USAGE:
"Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born in the same year, on the same
day: Feb 12, 1809. ... Instinctively, we want to say that they belong
together. It's not just because they were both great men, and not because
they happen to be exact coevals. Rather, it's because the scientist and
the politician each touched off a revolution that changed the world."Malcolm Jones; Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin?; Newsweek (New York); Jul 7, 2008. See more usage examples of coeval in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Only the madman is absolutely sure. -Robert Anton Wilson, novelist (1932-2007)
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