emerge

Formsemerges, emerging, emerged

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To come into view from a hidden or obscured position.

   The submarine emerged off the coast just before dawn.

   Mountains emerge from the mist as the morning sun rises.

   Similarappear, surface, materialize

   Oppositedisappear, vanish, submerge

   Note

   The image underneath is a surfacing. Latin ēmergō, "to rise up or out," joins ē-, "out," to mergō, "to dip, to sink," and the word came into English through Middle French in the late 16th century. Whatever emerges was first sunk in something: mist, shadow, a packing-case. The verb is intransitive, so things emerge but nobody emerges them, and the place they leave usually follows from.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To come out from inside an object, from under the surface of a liquid, or from a situation such as bankruptcy.

   The hikers emerged from the dense forest by nightfall.

   Investors hope the company will emerge from bankruptcy stronger.

   Similarexit, escape

   Oppositeenter

   Note

   Here the verb can work like become, carrying an adjective that describes the state something comes out in: he emerged unscathed, the company emerged stronger. The from-phrase names what was left behind, whether an accident, the ruins of an empire, or the ocean. A submarine rising from the sea keeps the "coming into view" sense's Latin picture of surfacing fully literal.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To become known or be revealed.

   Details of the secret agreement emerged after the meeting.

   Patterns emerge when you analyze the data carefully.

   Similarsurface, transpire, appear, arise

4. 4
   nounslangCanada

   Alternative spelling of emerg. Canadian slang for a hospital emergency room.

   She was rushed to the emerge after collapsing at work.

   The local emerge stays open all night.

   Note

   Canadian slang for a hospital's emergency department, written with a final -e that makes it look exactly like the verb. Context tells them apart. The noun takes an article (rushed to the emerge, the local emerge), while the verb never does. In writing for readers outside Canada, the spelling emerg or the full phrase emergency department avoids a stumble.

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