potential

/pəˈtɛntʃəl/

/pəˈtɛnʃəl/

Other forms: potentials

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.

Definitions of potential

1. adjective

   existing in possibility
   “a potential problem”

   synonyms: possible

   latent

   potentially existing but not presently evident or realized

   antonyms:

   actual

   presently existing in fact and not merely potential or possible

   effective

   existing in fact; not theoretical; real
2. adjective

   expected to become or be; in prospect
   “potential clients”

   synonyms: likely

   prospective

   of or concerned with or related to the future
3. noun

   the inherent capacity for coming into being
   synonyms: potency, potentiality

   types:

   latency

   the state of being not yet evident or active

   chance, prospect

   the possibility of future success

   type of:

   possibility, possibleness

   capability of existing or happening or being true
4. noun

   the difference in electrical charge between two points in a circuit expressed in volts
   synonyms: electric potential, potential difference, potential drop, voltage

   types:

   evoked potential

   the electrical response of the central nervous system produced by an external stimulus

   resting potential

   the potential difference between the two sides of the membrane of a nerve cell when the cell is not conducting an impulse

   type of:

   electrical phenomenon

   a physical phenomenon involving electricity