Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Capable of being but not yet in existence; latent or undeveloped.
- adjective Grammar Of, relating to, or being a verbal construction with auxiliaries such as may or can; for example, it may snow.
- noun The inherent ability or capacity for growth, development, or future success.
- noun The possibility that something might happen or result from given conditions.
- noun Grammar A potential verb form.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Potent; powerful; mighty.
- Possible, as opposed to actual; capable of being or becoming; capable of coming into full being or manifestation.
- In physics, existing in a positional form, not as motion: especially in the phrase potential energy.
- In grammar, expressing power or possibility: as, the potential mode; potential forms.
- See phrase under participle
- noun Anything that may be possible; a possibility.
- noun In dynamics: The sum of the products of all the pairs of masses of a system, each product divided by the distance between the pair.
- noun More generally, the line-integral of the attractions of a conservative system from a fixed configuration to its actual configuration; the work that would be done by a system of attracting and repelling masses (obeying the law of energy) in moving from situations infinitely remote from one another (or from any other fixed situations) to their actual situation.
- noun In electrostatics, at any point near or within an electrified body, the quantity of work necessary to bring a unit of positive electricity from an infinite distance to that point, the given distribution of electricity remaining unaltered. See
equipotential . - noun A scalar quantity distributed through space in such a way that its slope represents a given vector quantity distributed through space.
- noun In electricity, an incorrect abbreviation of
potential difference , or electric pressure.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Anything that may be possible; a possibility; potentially.
- noun (Math.) In the theory of gravitation, or of other forces acting in space, a function of the rectangular coordinates which determine the position of a point, such that its differential coefficients with respect to the coördinates are equal to the components of the force at the point considered; -- also called
potential function , orforce function . It is called alsoNewtonian potential when the force is directed to a fixed center and is inversely as the square of the distance from the center. - noun (Elec.) The energy of an electrical charge measured by its power to do work; hence, the degree of electrification as referred to some standard, as that of the earth; electro-motive force.
- adjective obsolete Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result; efficacious; influential.
- adjective Existing in possibility, not in actuality.
- adjective See under
Cautery . - adjective (Mech.) See the Note under
Energy . - adjective (Gram.) that form of the verb which is used to express possibility, liberty, power, will, obligation, or necessity, by the use of
may ,can ,must ,might ,could ,would , orshould ; as, Imay go ; hecan write .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Currently unrealized
ability (with the most commonadposition being to) - noun physics The work (energy) required to bring a unit positive electric charge from an infinite distance to a specified point against an electric field.
- noun grammar A verbal construction or form stating something is possible or probable.
- adjective Existing in possibility, not in
actuality . - adjective archaic Being
potent ;endowed with energy adequate to a result;efficacious ;influential . - adjective physics A potential field is an irrotational (static) field.
- adjective physics A potential flow is an irrotational flow.
- adjective grammar Referring to a verbal construction of form stating something is possible or probable.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the inherent capacity for coming into being
- adjective existing in possibility
- adjective expected to become or be; in prospect
- noun the difference in electrical charge between two points in a circuit expressed in volts
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The first potential stage is known as the _hylic_ or _potential intellect_.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy Isaac Husik 1907
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"The club's got so much potential and needs to grow to become a company to match that potential," she emphasises, tapping into a trend that has increasingly come to dictate modern football.
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"The club's got so much potential and needs to grow to become a company to match that potential," she emphasises, tapping into a trend that has increasingly come to dictate modern football.
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It was guaranteed to be able to stop a diplodocus in full charge; the electric potential (_potential!
Cum Grano Salis Randall Garrett 1957
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Looks like rain potential is generally .5 "-.75" with some spots maybe topping 1 ", and perhaps others seeing less than .5".
PM Update: Nice now, stormy later Ian Livingston 2010
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"The word 'potential' implies there haven't been profound wines from this region to date," said Mr. Page, after I mentioned the word.
Long Island Risk Takers Reap Rewards Lettie Teague 2011
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Perhaps the only thing more tragic than the losses of these children and the diminishing of their potential is the fact that malnutrition is preventable.
World Vision: Malnutrition Starves Children, Economies of a Lifetime of Potential World Vision 2010
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Perhaps the only thing more tragic than the losses of these children and the diminishing of their potential is the fact that malnutrition is preventable.
World Vision: Malnutrition Starves Children, Economies of a Lifetime of Potential World Vision 2010
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Is it how high Jindal and his potential is above Kilgore, even if he had won in 2005.
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Higher potential is also more loss potential and in a retirement plan, the most aggressive is still very conservative by anyone's normal measures.
Social Security Privatization, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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That tweet — and subsequent retweets and mentions tied to it — made 8.6 million “potential impressions” online, according to Guardians.ai, an upper limit calculation of the number of people who might have seen it based on the accounts the cluster follows, who follows accounts within the cluster and who has engaged with the tweet.
‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates Natasha Korecki 2023
hernesheir commented on the word potential
Po-Te-N-Ti-Al (polonium, tellurium, nitrogen, thallium, aluminium).
February 3, 2013