See emerge, emergency.

• (RP) IPA: /ɪˈmɜː.d͡ʒənt/
• (America) IPA: /ɪˈmɝ.d͡ʒənt/

emergent

1. Emerging; coming into view or into existence; nascent; new.
2. Arising unexpectedly, especially if also calling for immediate reaction.
3. (especially, medicine) Constituting an emergency.
   • 1987, Navy Medicine, page 8:

     Therefore, patients with ulcerative colitis should ideally be treated before they become emergent cases with toxic megacolon or perforation of the colon.

4. (botany) Taller than the surrounding vegetation.
5. (botany, of a water-dwelling plant) Having leaves and flowers above the water.
6. (video games) Having gameplay that arises from its mechanics, rather than a linear storyline.
   • 2008, Jim Rossignol, This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities, page 126:

     In short, emergent games are ones that allow a huge range of possibilities and don't dictate a strict, linear flow of events. A strategy game is emergent because so many units can interact and have some effect on each other.

7. (philosophy, epistemology, science) That arises at a higher level than that of its components and is not explainable by the behaviour of said components taken individually; having properties as a whole that are more complex than the properties contributed by each of the components individually.

   an emergent property

• French: émergent
• Russian: возника́ющий

• Russian: эмердже́нтный

emergent (plural emergents)

1. (botany) A plant whose root system grows underwater, but whose shoot, leaves and flowers grow up and above the water.