Skip to main content

Spring vs Arise vs Rise vs Originate vs Derive vs Flow vs Issue vs Emanate vs Proceed vs Stem

Springariseriseoriginatederiveflowissueemanateproceedstem can mean to come up or out of something into existence.

Spring stresses sudden or surprising emergence especially after a period of concealment or hidden existence or preparation.

Arise emphasizes the fact of coming into existence or into notice more than the conditions attending the event; often it conveys no clear suggestion of a prior state.

When used with from, however, it usually implies a causal connection between what is the object of the preposition and what is the subject of the verb; in such cases it is synonymous with result, though it neither loses nor obscures its primary implication of coming into existence.

Sometimes, when the context suggests a cause, the from phrase is omitted.

Rise and arise (see also under RISE 2 ) are often used interchangeably, but usage usually favors arise except where, in addition to the implication of beginning, there is either in the word or the context a strong suggestion of ascent.

Originate suggests a definite source or starting point which may be specified or located.

Derive also suggests a source; usually it does not imply, as originate implies, actual inception but presupposes a prior existence in another form or in another person or thing and connotes descent (as by inheritance, endowment, transference, or deduction).

Flow, issue, emanate in common imply a passing from one thing to another, the former being the source from which the latter is derived. All of these words are colored by their basic meanings.

Flow suggests passage like water, easily as if from a spring or abundantly as if from a reservoir.

Issue most frequently suggests emergence into existence, as if from a womb.

Emanate is used largely in reference to immaterial constructions (as a law, a principle, a power, or a system of thought); it connotes the passage of something impalpable or invisible and suggests a less obvious causal connection between the source and the thing derived than flow or issue .

Proceed stresses place of origin or, sometimes, parentage, derivation, or cause.

Stem suggests a growing out (as of a stem from a root or of a branch from a trunk) and is used chiefly in reference to things that come into existence through the influence of a predecessor either as a natural outgrowth or as a subordinate development.