Something is said to be emergent when it is not fundamental, or intentionally created by something else, but instead simply emerges out of other elements.
Examples of emergence
The economic phenomena known as inflation is rarely1 directly caused. Instead we notice that as the price of goods and services rises, then the worth of our money is less. We are able to buy less things with the same amount of money. Nobody intended for inflation to happen. It simply emerged out of the situation.2
Footnotes
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if ever ↩
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It is interesting to note, however, that while inflation, in itself is unintentional, it can be intentionally caused. For example, historically, printing more currency has consistently led to merchants raising prices (i.e. inflation). So if I intend for inflation to rise, then I can print more currency and thus intentionally cause inflation. ↩