Arose is the past tense of the verb arise, which means to come into existence, to happen, or to get up from a lying or sitting position.

When a problem arises, it appears or comes up unexpectedly. You might say “a disagreement arose during the group project” when teammates started arguing about how to divide the work. When an opportunity arises, it presents itself: “When the chance to join the debate team arose, she took it immediately.”

The word often describes things that emerge or develop naturally over time. After a heavy storm, questions might arise about whether school would be canceled. In a story, conflict often arises between characters who want different things. New nations have arisen throughout history when people decided to govern themselves.

Arose can also mean physically standing up, though this usage sounds somewhat old-fashioned. In classic stories, you might read that “the knight arose at dawn” or “she arose from her chair.” Today, we'd more likely say “got up” or “stood up” in casual conversation, but arose appears frequently in literature and formal writing when describing how situations, problems, or opportunities came to be.