Definition of "emergent"

emergent

/ɪˈmɜː.d͡ʒənt/

adjective
comparative more emergent, superlative most 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.
  Quotations
  Therefore, patients with ulcerative colitis should ideally be treated before they become emergent cases with toxic megacolon or perforation of the colon.
  1987, Navy Medicine, page 8
  Bleeding manifestations in chronic DIC are more subacute than in acute DIC, but may become emergent as DIC progresses.
  2001, Christopher Hillyer, Krista L. Hillyer, Frank Strobl, Leigh Jefferies, Leslie Silberstein, Handbook of Transfusion Medicine, Academic Press, page 206
  As a rule, esophageal disorders become emergent when the airway is compromised either by the initial insult or by a high risk of aspiration.
  2017, A. Joseph Layon, Andrea Gabrielli, Mihae Yu, Kenneth E. Wood, Civetta, Taylor, & Kirby's Critical Care Medicine, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
  Before communication and cognition impair decision-making, and before the medical needs for interventions become emergent, advance decisions about nutrition and ventilation must be discussed.
  2019, Walter R. Frontera, Joel A. DeLisa, Bruce M. Gans, Lawrence R. Robinson, DeLisa's Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: Principles and Practice, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  2008, Jim Rossignol, This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities, page 126
7. (philosophy, sciences) Having properties as a whole that are more complex than the properties contributed by each of the components individually.
  Quotations
  A high-level phenomenon is strongly emergent with respect to a low-level domain when the high-level phenomenon arises from the low-level domain, but truths concerning that phenomenon are not deducible even in principle from truths in the low-level domain. […] A high-level phenomenon is weakly emergent with respect to a low-level domain when the high-level phenomenon arises from the low-level domain, but truths concerning that phenomenon are unexpected given the principles governing the low-level domain.
  2008, David J. Chalmers, “Strong and Weak Emergence”, in Philip Clayton, Paul Davies, editors, The Re-Emergence of Emergence: The Emergentist Hypothesis from Science to Religion
noun
plural emergents
1. (botany) A plant whose root system grows underwater, but whose shoot, leaves and flowers grow up and above the water.