EMERGENCY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Emergency

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/ɪmˈərdʒənsi/ /ˈimərdʒənsi/ Listen

noun

Emergency n. (pl. emergencies)

Sudden or unexpected appearance; an unforeseen occurrence; a sudden occasion. "Most our rarities have been found out by casual emergency."

An unforeseen occurrence or combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action or remedy; pressing necessity; exigency. "To whom she might her doubts propose, On all emergencies that rose." "A safe counselor in most difficult emergencies."

Synonyms: Crisis; conjuncture; exigency; pinch; strait; necessity.

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Etymology of 'Emergency'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Emergency" Quotes from Famous Books

... subordinates through their immediate superiors. Usually the orders of a commander are intended for, and are given to, the commanders of the next lower units, but in an emergency commander should not hesitate to give orders directly to any subordinate. In such case he should promptly inform the intermediate commander ...

— Manual of Military Training - Second, Revised Edition • James A. Moss

... does not succeed who has ready an arsenal of tools for every conceivable emergency, but he who can make a tool at the spur of the moment. The ordeal of the practical test is Charles Darwin's ...

— Darwin and Modern Science • A.C. Seward and Others

... morsel of solace to the girl. With the first sweet crumble of the cake on her plate, she wished to cry. Sometimes the rush of old, kindly, tender associations will overcome one who is quite equal to the strain of present emergency. But she did not cry; she ate her cookies, and confided to Miss Mitchell and her mother her desire to obtain a position elsewhere, since her factory-work had failed her. It had occurred to her that possibly Miss Mitchell, ...

— The Portion of Labor • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... she burst into tears, heart-breaking sobs, the more vehement because obviously she was trying to suppress them. I stared at her, helpless with dismay, confronted for the first time with an emergency which seemed to paralyse rather than stimulate action. Had I sympathised, had I presented any aspect other than that of the confounded idiot, she might have become hysterical. Without doubt, my impassivity pulled her together. The ...

— Bunch Grass - A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch • Horace Annesley Vachell

... struggle, and a very difficult one, for Mavis, quiet though she was, had her ambitions, and it would be hard to yield place to her younger sister. It is only those who are accustomed to practise self- control who have the strength for an emergency. She longed for the opportunity of helping the school, and to stand aside voluntarily and give the work up to ...

— Monitress Merle • Angela Brazil

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