noun
-
latent or inherent capacity or ability for growth, fulfilment, etc
-
a person or thing that possesses such a capacity
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of potentiality
From the Medieval Latin word potentiālitās, dating back to 1615–25. See potential, -ity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Recall that the internet had supposedly rewritten the book on investment value and human potentiality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Today’s teens face a yawning chasm of potentiality.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2024
The participants were surveyed between workshops and asked to rank indicators related to the future potentiality of the technology.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2024
Classic Hollywood directors like David Lean and Douglas Sirk knew the amorous potentiality contained in the human face, harnessing its elastic electricity to illuminate soaring embraces and aching breakups.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2024
Since one cannot bespeak until one has been bespoken, until the telepathic potentiality has been sensitized by one clear reception, I had to get through to him first.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
People who in the past would have felt too afraid to experiment with their gender or sexuality for fear of the stigma that might entail may now be more willing to explore those potentialities.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2022
To be truly useful, an analogy must be precise not only in its actualities but in its potentialities.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2017
Let it float among its rich potentialities, forever young, forever letting process transcend resolution, and, like the poet’s own talent, at home in numerous places and seasons.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 31, 2017
It is the most shameless tear-jerker in a couple of years … the emotional potentialities are strong, and no reluctance, restraint or artful prudence has been exercised in banging them across.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2014
Because my environment was bare and bleak, I endowed it with unlimited potentialities, redeemed it for the sake of my own hungry and cloudy yearning.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
