emergency
noun
Simple meaning
A situation which poses an immediate risk and which requires urgent attention.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihmurjuhnseeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪˈmɝdʒənsi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
sometimes attributive
A situation which poses an immediate risk and which requires urgent attention.
The department of a hospital that treats emergencies.
euphemistic
A critical urge to urinate or defecate.
A person brought in at short notice to replace a member of staff, a player in a sporting team, etc.
sometimes attributive
A state in which martial law applies
“The governor declared a state of emergency.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (sometimes attributive) A situation which poses an immediate risk and which requires urgent attention.
Used this way, emergency is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use emergency
- “The governor declared a state of emergency.”noun
- “He never knew what to do in an emergency.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A brake operated by hand.
A stairway (often on the outside of a building) that permits exit in the case of fire or other emergency.
An unscheduled airplane landing that is made under circumstances (engine failure or adverse weather) not under the pilot's control.
The branch of medicine concerned with the prompt diagnosis and treatment of injuries or trauma or sudden illness.
A procedure adopted to meet an emergency (especially a medical emergency).
A room in a hospital or clinic staffed and equipped to provide emergency care to persons requiring immediate medical treatment.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.