emergency
noun
Synonyms
- boiling point
- breaking point
- clutch
- conjuncture
- crisis
- crossroad(s)
- crunch
- crunch time
- Dunkirk
- exigency
- extremity
- flash point
- head
- juncture
- tinderbox
- zero hour
Example Sentences
CBS News, 9 Sep. 2022 Moderna and Pfizer received emergency use authorizations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week. Annie Berman, Anchorage Daily News, 8 Sep. 2022 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on the shots, one by Moderna and one by Pfizer-BioNtech, earlier this month after the Food and Drug Administration authorized their emergency use. Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 8 Sep. 2022 Currently, two primary-series COVID-19 vaccines (made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and two (made by Johnson&Johnson-Janssen and Novavax) are authorized for emergency use. Alice Park, Time, 7 Sep. 2022 Videos circulated of Wuhan pandemic staffers welding shut doors in apartment buildings, raising alarms over what could happen in the case of a fire or other emergency. Eva Dou, Washington Post, 6 Sep. 2022 In 1971, the FDA gave the drug an emergency use authorization, but only for two weeks of treatment, because of side effects, the paper states. Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 6 Sep. 2022 Pfizer and German partner BioNTech have submitted their new COVID-19 booster – that targets the omicron subvariant BA.5 – to the FDA for emergency use authorization, the companies announced Monday. Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 27 Aug. 2022 For example, in 2020, the WHO listed a new oral polio vaccine for emergency use. Heidi Ledford, Scientific American, 25 Aug. 2022 See More Word History
circa 1631, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing emergency
Kids Definition
emergency
noun
Medical Definition
emergency
noun
Legal Definition
emergency
noun
emergency
noun
Synonyms & Similar Words
- crisis
- situation
- exigency
- head
- crossroad(s)
- extremity
- crunch
- conjuncture
- flash point
- clutch
- contingency
- breaking point
- boiling point
- juncture
- zero hour
- tinderbox
- crunch time
- possibility
- predicament
- point of no return
- condition
- moment of truth
- milestone
- Dunkirk
- climax
- landmark
- happening
- turning point
- hot water
- corner
- pass
- jam
- impasse
- deadlock
- fix
- spot
- pinch
- last ditch
- strait
- hole
- last minute
- stalemate
- eleventh hour
- scrape
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of emergency are contingency, crisis, exigency, juncture, pinch, straits, and strait. While all these words mean "a critical or crucial time or state of affairs," emergency applies to a sudden unforeseen situation requiring prompt action to avoid disaster.
The words contingency and emergency can be used in similar contexts, but contingency implies an emergency or exigency that is regarded as possible but uncertain of occurrence.
The synonyms crisis and emergency are sometimes interchangeable, but crisis applies to a juncture whose outcome will make a decisive difference.
In some situations, the words exigency and emergency are roughly equivalent. However, exigency stresses the pressure of restrictions or urgency of demands created by a special situation.
The meanings of juncture and emergency largely overlap; however, juncture stresses the significant concurrence or convergence of events.
Pinch implies urgency or pressure for action to a less intense degree than exigency or emergency.
Strait, now commonly straits, applies to a troublesome situation from which escape is extremely difficult.