(きゅうば)

きゅうば
noun
emergency; tight spot; pressing situation
abstract
1. emergency; tight spot; pressing situation
A situation that demands immediate action. Almost always used in set expressions about getting through or coping with the crisis rather than on its own.
急場(きゅうば)しのいだ。
We got through the emergency.
借入(かりいれ)急場(きゅうば)(すく)われた
A loan saved us in our hour of need.
A stopgap measure is only for getting through the immediate crisis; it is not a fundamental solution.

(きゅう) (urgent) + () (situation, scene). Slightly literary, and rarely used as a bare subject — learn it through its collocations.

Common collocations

  • 急場(きゅうば)しのぐ: to get through a crisis; to make do for now
  • 急場(きゅうば)(すく): to save the day
  • 急場(きゅうば)()()わせ: a stopgap

Similar words

  • 危機(きき): crisis — larger in scale and more serious; 急場(きゅうば) is about immediacy, not gravity
  • 非常時(ひじょうじ): emergency; state of emergency — used of disasters and wartime, in more official language