the.com/emergency
The moment plans become suggestions.
means A sudden situation demanding immediate action because something has gone seriously wrong.
from From Latin 'emergere' — to rise up out of, to surface — the same root that gives us 'emerge.' An emergency is literally something that has emerged: popped up out of the calm water of normal life, unignorable, demanding attention right now. The word entered English in the 1600s basically meaning 'an unforeseen occurrence,' and only later narrowed to the urgent, alarm-bells sense we use today.
- word age
- entered English meaning crisis only in 1600s
- shared root
- emergency and emerge are etymological siblings
- 911 origin
- US emergency number chosen for easy rotary dialing
- legal twist
- declared emergencies can expand government power temporarily