concomitant

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adjective con·com·i·tant \ kən-ˈkä-mə-tənt , kän- \

Definition of concomitant

:accompanying especially in a subordinate or incidental way

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concomitantly

adverb

See concomitant defined for English-language learners

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Examples of concomitant in a Sentence

… 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

Recent Examples of concomitant from the Web

There was a time when Mr. Cuomo would celebrate his ability to broker an on-time budget for New York with a snappy slogan and concomitant keepsakes.

— jesse mckinley, New York Times, "With No Deal, Cuomo Will Ask for Emergency Budget Measures," 2 Apr. 2017
The result has been a huge number of complaints throughout academe and a concomitant growth of bureaucracy.

— william stadiem, Town & Country, "Can Harvard's Storied Final Clubs Resist the Tides of Change?," 2 Aug. 2016
That may be very good for a single country but when several of them do it and a currency war erupts, there is a real danger of uncontrolled economic shock and concomitant pain around the world.

— jeff sommer, New York Times, "In the Bizarro World of Negative Interest Rates, Saving Will Cost You," 5 Mar. 2016
That creature adapted long ago to live in human settlements, and developed a concomitant taste for human blood.

— justin gillis, New York Times, "In Zika Epidemic, a Warning on Climate Change," 20 Feb. 2016

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.

Did You Know?

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.

Origin and Etymology of concomitant

Latin concomitant-, concomitans, present participle of concomitari to accompany, from com- + comitari to accompany, from comit-, comes companion — more at count

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First Known Use: 1607

See Words from the same year

concomitant Synonyms

Synonyms

accompanying, attendant, attending, coexistent, coexisting, coincidental, coincident, concurrent

Related Words

contemporaneous, contemporary, simultaneous, synchronous; associated, collateral, connected, linked, related; consequent, resultant, resulting; ensuing, following, subsequent; accidental, casual, chance, fluky (also flukey), fortuitous, freak, incident, incidental

Near Antonyms

unassociated, unconnected, unrelated

concomitant

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noun con·com·i·tant \ kən-ˈkä-mə-tənt , kän- \

Definition of concomitant

:something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else :accompaniment

See concomitant defined for English-language learners

Examples of concomitant in a Sentence

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