emergence

Borrowed from French émergence. Doublet of emergency.

Morphologically 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/

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 2001, p. 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.

• emerge

• eclosion

• emergence in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913