potential
Americanadjective
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possible, as opposed to actual.
the potential uses of nuclear energy.
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capable of being or becoming.
a potential danger to safety.
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Grammar. expressing possibility.
the potential subjunctive in Latin; the potential use of can in I can go.
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Archaic. potent.
noun
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potentials
plural
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possibility; potentiality.
an investment that has little growth potential.
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a latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed.
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Grammar.
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a potential aspect, mood, construction, case, etc.
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a form in the potential.
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Electricity. electric potential.
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Mathematics, Physics. a type of function from which the intensity of a field may be derived, usually by differentiation.
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someone or something that is considered a worthwhile possibility.
The list of job applications has been narrowed to half a dozen potentials.
adjective
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possible but not yet actual
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(prenominal) capable of being or becoming but not yet in existence; latent
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grammar (of a verb or form of a verb) expressing possibility, as English may and might
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an archaic word for potent 1
noun
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latent but unrealized ability or capacity
Jones has great potential as a sales manager
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grammar a potential verb or verb form
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short for electric potential
Synonym Usage
See latent.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of potential
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English potencial (from Old French ), from Late Latin potentiālis. See potency, -al 1
Explanation
If you can describe something as possible but not yet actual, choose the adjective potential. Companies try to reach potential customers through advertising. Potential, from the Latin potentia "power," sounds more complicated than it is. It describes something or someone that has the power to become something. A potential success is not yet a success but could be if circumstances are right. When a situation has the potential for disaster, it could turn bad easily. You have potential if you have a natural but undeveloped ability to do something and a building with potential will be really nice once it's fixed up.
Vocabulary lists containing potential
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Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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An Inspirational Back-to-School Word List
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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:
Ian Wright says Gabriel Martinelli deserves "more respect" from Arsenal and questioned the way the club have handled the winger's potential exit.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
After all, the size of the buybacks is small, he noted, adding that the potential for even larger buybacks may make some people “nervous” about inflation.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
Patrick Degorce, an early Moderna investor and hedge-fund manager, reached out to Bancel after losing his wife to lung cancer, curious about the potential of mRNA for cancer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
The potential for the Mount Storm facility is nonetheless rather limited: it can produce about four tons of rare earth oxides per year, and about 45 percent of that is "heavy" rare earths, Lin said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
The boys take off, talking about team stats and next season’s potential trades.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
The team also used pattern visual evoked potentials – a painless test that measured how well signals travelled from the retina to the visual cortex.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
Other analysts are also optimistic about the company’s growth potentials.
From Barron's ● Nov. 19, 2025
"This work reports average QGP temperatures at two distinct stages of evolution and multiple baryonic chemical potentials, marking a significant advance in mapping the QGP's thermodynamic properties," Geurts said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2025
A couple of potentials he liked — Blood Reign and King’s Rain — linking the new band to Slayer’s best-known album, 1986’s “Reign in Blood,” were already in circulation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024
As with other human learning potentials, there is a wide range of music aptitude levels distributed among the human population.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
