Meaning & use
contemporaneous notes
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Meaning
nounpluralformal
written records made at the same time as the events they describe, rather than later from memory.
Grammar: Used as a plural noun: the notes are contemporaneous. A single one is a contemporaneous note.
Patterns
- make contemporaneous notes
- keep contemporaneous notes
- contemporaneous notes of something
The nurse made contemporaneous notes during the examination.
Lawyers often rely on contemporaneous notes to show what was said at a meeting.
He kept contemporaneous notes of every phone call with the client.
Word forms
| singular | contemporaneous note |
|---|
Common combinations
- make contemporaneous notes
- She made contemporaneous notes during the interview.
- keep contemporaneous notes
- Doctors are trained to keep contemporaneous notes.
- contemporaneous notes of
- He produced contemporaneous notes of the discussion.
- rely on contemporaneous notes
- The court relied on contemporaneous notes from the police officer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- real-time records
- This is a more general phrase for records made as events happen; contemporaneous notes is the formal term used in legal and medical contexts.
- minutes
- Minutes are the official written record of a meeting, often written up later; contemporaneous notes are made during or immediately after the events.
Word family
- contemporaneously adverb
- At the same time; in a way that happens together with something else.
- contemporaneous adjective
- Existing or happening at the same time.
Commonly confused: contemporaneous notes or contemporary?
contemporaneous notes vs contemporary
Contemporary means belonging to the present time or to the same period, and is much more common in everyday English. Contemporaneous is formal and means happening at the same time as something else.
Practice
In a legal case, why are contemporaneous notes considered valuable?
Choose one answer.
Contemporaneous means happening at the same time, so contemporaneous notes are made when the events occur. The other options describe other qualities of notes but not the key meaning of the word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “contemporaneous notes”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.