emergence
nounUK /ɪˈmɜː.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/ · US /ɪˈmɝ.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/
Etymology Borrowed from French émergence. Doublet of emergency. By surface analysis, emerge + -ence.
1
The act of rising out of a fluid, or coming forth from envelopment or concealment, or of rising into view; appearance.
- Some birds do indeed sing through the night of all we can remember, temperature gaugings at the site of our earliest emergence revealing that all was cool then1986, Brad Johnson, “Coming of Age”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 19:
2
The arising of emergent structure in complex systems.
3
Obsolete An emergency.
- In this dire emergence, the Marquis de Torcy, minister for foreign affairs, offered his services.1790, Charles Hamilton, Transactions During the Reign of Queen Anne:
- I[…]had recourse to an English Merchant, Mr Gregory, long settled at Dunkirk, to whom, happily, I had been recommended, as to a person capable, in any emergence, to afford me assistance.1812, Frances Burney, Journals and Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 452:
- Derived terms
- coemergence, postemergence, preemergence, reemergence, re-emergence