concomitant

English

WOTD - 12 April 2008    

Etymology

First attested 1607; from French concomitant, from present participle of Latin concomitari (“accompany”), from con- (“together”) + comitari (“to company”), from comes (“companion”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /kənˈkɒmɪtənt/, SAMPA: /k@n"kQm@t@nt/
• (US) IPA: /kənˈkɑːmətənt/, SAMPA: /k@n"kA:m@t@nt/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

concomitant (not comparable)

1. Happening at the same time as something else, especially because one thing is related to or causes the other, i.e. concurrent.
   • 1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Bantam Books, pg. 41:

     The new technology on which super-industrialism is based, much of it blue-printed in American research laboratories, brings with it an inevitable acceleration of change in society and a concomitant speed-up of the pace of individual life as well.

   • 1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Bantam Books, pg. 144:

     While skills in human interaction will become more important, due to the growing needs for collaboration in complex tasks, there will be a concomitant reduction in group cohesiveness...

Synonyms

• (following as a consequence): accompanying, adjoining, attendant, incidental

Translations

following as a consequence

Bulgarian: съпътстващ (bg) Czech: doprovodný (cs) m. French: concomitant (fr) Italian: concomitante (it)

Mandarin Chinese: 併發的 (bìngfāde) Polish: współistniejący m. Spanish: concomitante (es)

Noun

concomitant (plural concomitants)

1. Something happening or existing at the same time.
   • 1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Bantam Books, pg.93:

     The declining commitment to place is thus related not to mobility per se, but to a concomitant of mobility- the shorter duration of place relationships.

   • 1900, Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, (translated by James Strachey) pg. 301:

     It is also instructive to consider the relation of these dreams to anxiety dreams. In the dreams we have been discussing, a repressed wish has found a means of evading censorship—and the distortion which censorship involves. The invariable concomitant is that painful feelings are experienced in the dream.

Synonyms

• (a concomitant event or situation): accompaniment, co-occurrence

Related terms

• concomitance
• concomitantly
• concomitate

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin concomitari (“accompany”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɔ̃kɔmitɑ̃/

Adjective

concomitant m. (f. concomitante, m. plural concomitants, f. plural concomitantes)

1. concomitant