Potential
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Potential \Po*ten"tial\, a. [Cf. F. potentiel. See {Potency}.]
1. Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result;
efficacious; influential. [Obs.] "And hath in his effect a
voice potential." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Existing in possibility, not in actuality. "A potential
hero." --Carlyle.
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Potential existence means merely that the thing may
be at ome time; actual existence, that it now is.
--Sir W.
Hamilton.
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{Potential cautery}. See under {Cautery}.
{Potential energy}. (Mech.) See the Note under {Energy}.
{Potential mood}, or {Potential mode} (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, or should; as, I may go;
he can write.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Potential \Po*ten"tial\, n.
1. Anything that may be possible; a possibility; potentially.
--Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
2. (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 coordinates
are equal to the components of the force at the point
considered; -- also called {potential function}, or {force
function}. It is called also {Newtonian potential} when
the force is directed to a fixed center and is inversely
as the square of the distance from the center.
[1913 Webster]
3. (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.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
127 Moby Thesaurus words for "potential":
EMF, ability, aptitude, bare possibility, between the lines,
budding, bump, caliber, capability, capacity, chance, cogitable,
concealed, conceivability, conceivable, conceivableness,
conceivably possible, conditional, contingency, contingent, covert,
cryptic, delitescent, developing, dormant, dower, dowry,
electric potential, electromotive force, electromotivity,
embryonic, endowment, equipment, esoteric, even chance,
eventuality, faculty, flair, forte, future, genius, gift,
good chance, good possibility, hibernating, hidden, hope,
humanly possible, imaginable, imminent, imperative, implicit,
implied, indicative, instinct, jussive, latent, likelihood, likely,
long suit, lurking, makings, metier, mode, mood, muffled, mystic,
natural endowment, natural gift, obfuscated, obligative, obscured,
occult, off chance, optative, outside chance, outside hope, parts,
passive, permissive, plausible, possibilities, possibility,
possible, possibleness, potency, potential difference,
potentiality, power, powers, probability, probable, prospect,
qualification, quiescent, remote possibility, sleeping, small hope,
speciality, strong flair, strong point, subjunctive, submerged,
talent, talents, the attainable, the feasible, the goods,
the possible, the stuff, thinkability, thinkable, thinkableness,
under the surface, underlying, undeveloped, unmanifested,
unrealized, veiled, virtual, virtuality, volt, voltage,
what is possible, what it takes, what may be, what might be
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