emergence

Borrowed from French émergence. Doublet of emergency. By surface analysis, emerge +‎ -ence.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɜː.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/, /iˈmɜː.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɝ.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/, /iˈmɝ.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/

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emergence (countable and uncountable, plural emergences)

1. The act of rising out of a fluid, or coming forth from envelopment or concealment, or of rising into view; sudden uprising or appearance.
2. In particular: the arising of emergent structure in complex systems.
3. (obsolete) An emergency.
   • 1790, Charles Hamilton, Transactions During the Reign of Queen Anne:

     In this dire emergence, the Marquis de Torcy, minister for foreign affairs, offered his services.

   • 1812, Frances Burney, Journals and Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 452:

     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.

• eclosion

• “emergence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.