possibility

English

Etymology

From Middle English possibilite, from Middle French possibilité (from Old French possibilite) and directly from Late Latin possibilitās (“possibility”), from Latin possibilis (“possible”); see possible.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɒs.ɪˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɑ.səˈbɪl.ə.ɾi/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: pos‧si‧bil‧i‧ty
• Rhymes: -ɪlɪti

Noun

possibility (countable and uncountable, plural possibilities)

1. The quality of being possible.

   Synonym: possibleness

   There is little possibility of that happening.

2. A thing possible; that which may take place or come into being.

   Synonyms: contingency; see also Thesaurus:possibility

   • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.

3. An option or choice, usually used in context with future events.

   Synonyms: choice, option; see also Thesaurus:option

4. (obsolete) Capability, power or capacity to act.
   • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act IV:

     VVere Iacke Strawe a liue againe,
     And I in as good poſſibility as euer I was,
     I would lay a ſurer trumpe,
     Ere I would loſe ſo faire a tricke.

Antonyms

• impossibility; See also Thesaurus:impossibility

Derived terms

• logical possibility
• possibility of reverter
• possibility theory
• production possibility curve

 

Related terms

• impossibility
• possible
• potence
• potency
• potent
• potentate
• potential
• potentiality
• power

 

Translations

quality of being possible

• Albanian: mundësi (sq)
• Arabic: اِحْتِمَال m (iḥtimāl)
• Armenian: հնարավորություն (hy) (hnaravorutʻyun)
• Aromanian: pusibilitati f
• Azerbaijani: imkan (az), ehtimal (az)
• Belarusian: магчы́масць f (mahčýmascʹ)
• Bulgarian: възмо́жност (bg) f (vǎzmóžnost)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可能性 (zh) (kěnéngxìng)

• Czech: možnost (cs) f
• Danish: mulighed (da) c
• Dutch: mogelijkheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: ebleco
• Finnish: mahdollisuus (fi)
• French: possibilité (fr) f
• Galician: posibilidade (gl) f
• Georgian: შესაძლებლობა (šesaʒlebloba)
• German: Möglichkeit (de) f
• Greek: δυνατότητα (el) f (dynatótita), πιθανότητα (el) (pithanótita)
• Hebrew: אֶפְשָׁרוּת (he) f (efsharút)
• Hindi: संभावना (hi) f (sambhāvnā)
• Hungarian: lehetőség (hu), eshetőség (hu), kilátás (hu), esély (hu)
• Icelandic: möguleiki (is) m
• Ido: posibleso (io)
• Indonesian: kemungkinan (id)
• Interlingua: possibilitate
• Irish: féidearthacht f
• Italian: possibilità (it) f
• Japanese: 可能性 (ja) (かのうせい, kanōsei)
• Kabuverdianu: txansa, xanse
• Korean: 가능성(可能性) (ko) (ganeungseong)
• Kyrgyz: мүмкүндүк (ky) (mümkündük), мүмкүнчүлүк (ky) (mümküncülük)
• Latvian: iespēja f
• Lithuanian: galimybė (lt) f
• Macedonian: можност f (možnost)
• Malay: kemungkinan (ms)
• Malayalam: സാധ്യത (ml) (sādhyata)
• Manx: jargaght f
• Maori: āheitanga
• Norman: pôssibilité f
• Northern Sami: vejolašvuohta
• Norwegian: mulighet (no) c

  Nynorsk: mogleik m, mogelegheit f, moglegheit f

• Persian: امکان (fa) (emkân), احتمال (fa) (ehtemâl)
• Plautdietsch: Mäajlichkjeit f
• Polish: możliwość (pl) f, możność (pl) f
• Portuguese: possibilidade (pt) f
• Romanian: posibilitate (ro) f
• Romansch: pussaivladad f (Rumantsch Grischun)
• Russian: возмо́жность (ru) f (vozmóžnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: могу́ћно̄ст f

  Roman: mogúćnōst f

• Slovak: možnosť f
• Slovene: možnost (sl) f
• Spanish: posibilidad (es) f
• Swahili: uweza (sw) class u/u, uwezekano class u/u
• Swedish: möjlighet (sv) c
• Tajik: имкон (imkon)
• Thai: ความเป็นไปได้ (kwaam-bpen-bpai-dâi)
• Turkish: ihtimal (tr), olasılık (tr), imkân (tr), olanak (tr)
• Ukrainian: можли́вість f (možlývistʹ)
• Uyghur: ئىمكانىيەت (imkaniyet), مۇمكىنلىك (mumkinlik), مۇمكىنچىلىك (mumkinchilik)
• Uzbek: imkon (uz), ehtimol (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự có thể (vi), khả năng (vi)
• Volapük: mög (vo), mögod (vo)

a thing possible; that which may take place or come into being

• Arabic: إِمْكَانِيَّة (ar) (ʔimkāniyya)
• Catalan: possibilitat (ca) f
• Esperanto: eblo
• Finnish: mahdollisuus (fi)
• Galician: posibilidade (gl) f
• Greek: δυνατότητα (el) f (dynatótita)
• Hebrew: אֶפְשָׁרוּת (he) f (efsharút)
• Hungarian: lehetőség (hu), eshetőség (hu)
• Ido: posiblajo (io)
• Malay: kemungkinan (ms)
• Malayalam: സാധ്യം (ml) (sādhyaṁ)
• Northern Sami: vejolašvuohta
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: mogelegheit f, moglegheit f, mogleik m

• Polish: możliwość (pl) f
• Romanian: posibil (ro) m, posibilă f
• Spanish: posibilidad (es) f
• Turkish: olabilirlik (tr)

option or choice, usually used in context with future events

• Arabic: إِمْكَانِيَّة (ar) (ʔimkāniyya)
• Bulgarian: вероятност (bg) f (verojatnost)
• Catalan: possibilitat (ca) f
• Finnish: vaihtoehto (fi)
• Greek: επιλογή (el) (epilogí)
• Hebrew: אֶפְשָׁרוּת (he) f (efsharút)
• Italian: opportunità (it) f
• Kabuverdianu: txansa, xanse
• Malay: kemungkinan (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: høve n, mogelegheit f, moglegheit f, mogleik m

• Polish: możliwość (pl) f
• Romansch: pussaivladad f (Rumantsch Grischun)
• Spanish: posibilidad (es) f

See also

• probability

Further reading

• “possibility”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “possibility”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.