Potential Meaning
/pəˈtɛnʃəl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA currently unrealized ability (with the most common adposition being to).
nounThe gravitational potential: the radial (irrotational, static) component of a gravitational field, also known as the Newtonian potential or the gravitoelectric field.
Sentence Examples
Education aims to develop potential abilities.
Those children are potential customers.
The university interviews all potential candidates.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The young athlete has great ____ to become a professional player in the future.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young athlete showed enormous ____ and was selected for the national development program.
Word Origin & History
From Late Latin potentialis, from Latin potentia (“power”), from potens (“powerful”). By surface analysis, potent + -ial.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Comrades, our own fleet doesn't know our full potential. They will do everything possible to test us, but they will only test their own embarrassment."
— 1990, The Hunt for Red October, →OCLC:
"With some technical improvement, I could see how the process of imitating my work would soon become fast and streamlined, and the many dark potentials bubbled to the forefront of my mind."
— 2022 December 31, Sarah Andersen, “The Alt-Right Manipulated My Comic. Then A.I. Claimed It.”, in The New York Times:
"The heroic man,—and is not every man, God be thanked, a potential hero?—has to do so, in all times and circumstances."
— 1858, Thomas Carlyle, Chartism, Chapman & Hall, page 229:
"And hath, in his effect, a voice potential"
— 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello:
"From Maxwell equations (6.20) it follows that the electric field is potential: E(r) = −gradφ(r)."
— 1997, Physics-Uspekhi, volume 40, numbers 1-6, American Institute of Physics, page 39:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The young athlete has great ____ to become a professional player in the future.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young athlete showed enormous ____ and was selected for the national development program.