| English Dictionary |
EMERGENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does emergent mean?
• EMERGENT (adjective)
The adjective EMERGENT has 2 senses:
1. occurring unexpectedly and requiring urgent action
2. coming into existence
Familiarity information: EMERGENT used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Occurring unexpectedly and requiring urgent action
Context example:
emergent repair of an aorta
Similar:
sudden (happening without warning or in a short space of time)
Derivation:
emergency (a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Coming into existence
Synonyms:
emergent; emerging
Context example:
an emergent republic
Similar:
nascent (being born or beginning)
Derivation:
emerge (happen or occur as a result of something)
emergence (the act of emerging)
Context examples
They had a lower ability to rapidly name objects, known as processing speed, and weaker emergent literacy skills, which is a child's knowledge of reading and writing before they learn how to read and write words.
(Too Much Screen Time Changes Structure of Toddlers' Brains, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
An early Earth without emergent continents may have resembled a 'water world,' providing an important environmental constraint on the origin and evolution of life on Earth as well as its possible existence elsewhere, geoscientists Benjamin Johnson and Boswell Wing write in a paper.
(Scientists determine early Earth was a ‘water world’ by studying exposed ocean crust, National Science Foundation)
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