Synonyms of emergent

emergent

adjective

i-ˈmər-jənt 

as in urgent

needing immediate attention

since the problem was not seen as emergent, implementation of the expensive solution for it was continually put off

Synonyms & Similar Words

• urgent
• acute
• critical
• pressing
• compelling
• intense
• dire
• imperative
• exigent
• crying
• instant
• desperate
• serious
• immediate
• importunate
• extreme
• imperious
• burning
• insistent
• crucial
• clamant
• overriding
• dangerous
• necessitous
• hazardous
• life-and-death
• demanding
• severe
• explosive
• precarious
• perilous
• unstable
• vital
• grave

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• minor
• incidental
• unimportant
• trivial
• noncritical
• low-pressure
• negligible
• nonurgent
• stable
• safe
• nonthreatening

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of emergent

Listen, could Langdon have selected a better moment to make his big apology than while the two of them are on the roof and a helicopter with an emergent patient is landing? —Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2026

The archivists and librarians of Ḫattuša and Alexandria could find emergent order in their holdings, but those collections paled in comparison to the flood of print. —Big Think, 9 Feb. 2026

Demographic data for 2024-25 shows that 74% of children in Northside’s pre-K program were economically disadvantaged; 26% were emergent bilingual; 16% were military children; 7% were in special education; 2% were homeless; and 2% were in foster care. —Scott Huddleston, San Antonio Express-News, 2 Feb. 2026

Yet their emergent/instinctive choices about when to engage AI and how much authority to give it produced fundamentally different collaboration dynamics. —François Candelon, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2026