emerge
Americanverb (used without object)
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emerges,
present (3rd person singular)
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emerged,
past participle, past
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emerging
present participle
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to come forth into view or notice, as from concealment or obscurity.
a ghost emerging from the grave;
a ship emerging from the fog.
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to rise or come forth from or as if from water or other liquid.
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to come up or arise, as a question or difficulty.
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to come into existence; develop.
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to rise, as from an inferior or unfortunate state or condition.
verb
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to come up to the surface of or rise from water or other liquid
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to come into view, as from concealment or obscurity
he emerged from the cave
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(foll by from) to come out (of) or live (through a difficult experience)
he emerged from his ordeal with dignity
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to become apparent
several interesting things emerged from the report
Usage
What are other ways to say emerge? To emerge is to come forth into view or notice, as from concealment or obscurity. How is emerge different from emanate and issue? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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emergesimple
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emergessimple
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have emergedperfect
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has emergedperfect
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am emergingprogressive
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are emergingprogressive
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is emergingprogressive
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have been emergingperfect progressive
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has been emergingperfect progressive
Past
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emergedsimple
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had emergedperfect
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was emergingprogressive
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were emergingprogressive
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had been emergingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of emerge
First recorded in 1630–40; from Latin ēmergere “to arise out of,” equivalent to ē- e- 1 + mergere “to dive, sink”
Explanation
To emerge means to come out into view or come forth. You might hope to emerge from an epic perming session looking like a beauty queen, but chances are it will just look like you got electrocuted. From the Latin emergere, meaning to “rise out or up, bring forth, bring to light,” emerge is an intransitive verb that might bring to mind the image of a whale rising up from the depths of the sea, or of a person popping out from a dark corner to spook you. Appear and peep are synonyms, while dip and sink are antonyms.
Vocabulary lists containing emerge
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List 1
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The Vernal Vocabulary of Spring
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Even after a perfect home inspection, hidden issues can emerge after a new homeowner moves in.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
The signals emerge from interactions between the ordered electrons and excitations created in the material by light, known as excitons.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
"Rather we aspire for it to grow, and perhaps appropriate conditions will emerge one day for all countries of the region to gather under its umbrella."
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
A deep partial solar eclipse will be also visible in the UK in the early evening before the Sun sets and the stars emerge.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
He looked behind him—and saw the undergrowth part, and a man’s shadow emerge from the woods.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Nero’s bridge emerges from Tiber amid Rome drought.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
That connection could make the signals especially useful for investigating strongly correlated systems, where the behavior of the material emerges from interactions among many particles rather than from individual particles acting on their own.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
Typically, a man’s mid-life crisis occurs between his 40s and 50s when, having achieved a stable economic and sociopolitical status, a new generation emerges that threatens to replace him.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
As one reads his diary from the pandemic years, a question emerges: Where did “Anthony Fauci” come from?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Relief remains tied to the background, from which it only partially emerges, in contrast to free-standing sculpture, which is fully liberated from it.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
She emerged from the reggaeton thunderstorm that hijacked the planet, but then guided it smoothly into a different aesthetic territory, far away from the movement’s misogynistic toxicity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
A new generation of weight loss medications has emerged in recent years that act on specific receptors involved in appetite.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
Wearing ballet flats for purposes other than ballet itself is a trend that first emerged in the 1940s.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Since taking up the game six years ago, Sivanandan has emerged as one of the greatest prodigies chess has ever seen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
I didn’t speak of it when I moved in with Aunt Tess and drew the curtains and never emerged, even when she asked me directly if I would tell her if things weren’t all right.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
With four overseas players introduced this year, fewer emerging players have been given much responsibility during the tournament, but Sunrisers' batters struggled with Phillips' slinging, awkward action.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
The detector repeatedly records more baryons than antibaryons emerging sideways from the collisions, perpendicular to the direction of the incoming beams.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
High-quality bonds carry a correlation to the S&P 500 of roughly 0.24 — by far the lowest of any major asset class — compared with roughly 0.66 for both developed and emerging international equities.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Graham earned just 33 percent of the vote, a rather light primary showing for a sympathetic figure emerging from loss who’s campaigning with the president’s endorsement.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
“Lots of explanations for that. It could have enough food. The closer it comes to emerging, the bigger their appetite. Could just be a sign it wasn’t hungry enough.”
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
