emergency

Borrowed from Medieval Latin emergentia, from Latin emergens, present participle of emergo, equivalent to emerge +‎ -ency.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɝ.dʒən.si/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: e‧mer‧gen‧cy
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒənsi

emergency (plural emergencies)

1. A situation which poses an immediate risk and which requires urgent attention.

   Cardiac arrest is an emergency and if you find someone in cardiac arrest you should call 999 immediately.

2. The department of a hospital that treats emergencies.
3. An individual brought in at short notice to replace a member of staff, a player in a sporting team, etc.
   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

     Van Gaal responded by replacing Adnan Januzaj with Carrick and, in fairness, the emergency centre-half did exceedingly well given that he has not played since May.

4. (archaic) The quality of being emergent; sudden or unexpected appearance; an unforeseen occurrence.

• (hospital department): ER, casualty, emerg

• emerge
• emergence

• fire department
• police