Definition of CONCOMITANT

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Adjective

Concomitant was introduced into English at a time when many people were criticizing the use of Latinate forms in favor of more "native" words from Old English. As a descendant of Latin concomitari ("to accompany") and ultimately of "comes," the Latin word for companion, "concomitant" may well have been initially derided as an ostentatious inkhorn term. Indeed, two associated words, the verb concomitate, meaning "to accompany," and another adjective, concomitaneous, meaning "of a concomitant nature," didn't survive to accompany "concomitant" into the 18th century.

Examples of concomitant in a Sentence

Adjective … Christopher Walken delivers his customary edge without any of his clichéd, concomitant weirdness. — Stephen Whitty, Entertainment Weekly, 12 Feb. 1999 The Lincoln and Johnson plans for settling the problems of peace and freedom never seriously touched on the concomitant problem of equality. — John Hope Franklin, "The Two Worlds of Race," 1965, in Race and History, 1989 But it was observed that this pill would be peculiarly bitter to the Southern States, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. — Thomas Jefferson 4 Feb. 1818, in Thomas Jefferson: Writings, 1984 The drug's risks increase with the concomitant use of alcohol. an improvement in the facilities led to a concomitant improvement in morale Noun In the local bickering which was a concomitant of the grand campaigns of the wars, there may have been considerable fighting around fortifications, even if on a relatively small and brief scale. — Anthony Goodman, The War of the Roses, (1981) 1996 … there is a demand for schools, professional services, and such other concomitants of a full society as courthouses and jails. — Anthony Bailey, New Yorker, 25 May 1987 hunger, a lack of education, and other concomitants of poverty disease is all too often one of the concomitants of poverty

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective The remedy for such abuse of power and its concomitant obstruction of Congress is clear: impeachment. — Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, "Letters: UN climate talks disappoint, but don’t give up; Pollution and air quality are a top priority; The wisdom or folly of impeaching Donald Trump (12/22/19)," 23 Dec. 2019 Some readers will find his rhetoric perfidious and reactionary, with its dismissal of identity politics and the concomitant particulars of the African-American experience. — Andrew Solomon, New York Times, "How Moving to France and Having Children Led a Black American to Rethink Race," 18 Oct. 2019 Does that privilege not imply a concomitant duty to actually serve? — Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, "Letters: Sports fans stuck in the middle (10/11/19)," 13 Oct. 2019 Trump’s impulsive tweeting and concomitant error rate seem to have grown this year as his frustrations with topics that upset him, from the Mueller report and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to immigration and 2020, have intensified. — Sarah Lyall, BostonGlobe.com, "There or their? Sticklers twitch at President Trump’s posts," 31 Aug. 2019 But, as the buildings and their concomitant problems begin to fade away, a different menace is filling the lots left behind. — Lucas Joel, Quartz, "Detroit accidentally caused a pollen crisis by bulldozing the city’s abandoned areas," 15 Aug. 2019 Exacerbating all this, of course, is Africa’s population explosion and the concomitant increase in the numbers of cattle, goats, horses, and donkeys (lion prey) that rural people keep in their villages and bomas. — Klara Glowczewska, Town & Country, "How the New Lion King Film Could Help the Real-Life Lion Crisis," 1 Aug. 2019 The book tour and its concomitant responsibilities are necessary evils to sell books. — Sarah Menkedick, Longreads, "The First Book," 24 July 2019 Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, echoed Ersek in pinpointing trade issues and a concomitant slowdown in global growth as root causes of an eventual downturn. — Robert Hackett, Fortune, "What CEOs, Bankers, and Tech Execs Think About a Coming Recession," 29 July 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Meanwhile, occupation forces committed scores of atrocities in both countries — some the typical concomitants of war, some simply gratuitous crimes, as in the torture dungeon at Abu Ghraib and the Nisour Square massacre. — Ryan Cooper, TheWeek, "Bernie Sanders is America's best hope for a sane foreign policy," 7 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'concomitant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.