possibility

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French possibilité, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French possibilite, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin possibilitās (“possibility”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin possibilis (“possible”); see possible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɑsɪˈbɪliti/
• IPA^(key): /ˌpɒsɪˈbɪliti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

Noun

possibility (countable and uncountable, plural possibilities)

1. The quality of being possible.
2. A thing possible; that which may take place or come into being.
   • 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

• (the quality of being possible):
• (a thing possible): contingency; See also Thesaurus:possibility
• (an option or choice): choice, option; See also Thesaurus:option

Antonyms

• impossibility; See also Thesaurus:impossibility

Derived terms

• logical possibility
• possibility theory

Related terms

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

Translations

quality of being possible

• Albanian: mundësi (sq)
• Arabic: إِحْتِمَال m (ʔiḥtimāl)
• Armenian: հնարավորություն (hy) (hnaravorutʻyun)
• 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: eblo, ebleco
• Finnish: mahdollisuus (fi)
• French: possibilité (fr) f
• Galician: posibilidade (gl) f
• Georgian: შესაძლებლობა (šesaʒlebloba)
• German: Möglichkeit (de) f
• Greek: δυνατότητα (el) f (dynatótita)
• Hebrew: אֶפְשָׁרוּת f (efsharút)
• Hungarian: lehetőség (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)
• Korean: 가능성 (ko) (ganeungseong) (可能性 (ko))
• Lithuanian: galimybė (lt) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: можност f (možnost)
• Malay: kemungkinan
• Manx: jargaght f
• Maori: āheitanga
• Norman: pôssibilité f
• Norwegian: mulighet (no) c
• Persian: امکان (fa) (emkân), احتمال (fa) (ehtemâl)
• Polish: możliwość (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 (sh) 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)
• 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

• Catalan: possibilitat (ca) f
• Galician: posibilidade (gl) f
• Hebrew: אֶפְשָׁרוּת f (efsharút)
• Ido: posiblajo (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: kemungkinan
• Romanian: posibil (ro) m, posibilă f
• Spanish: posibilidad (es) f

option

• Catalan: possibilitat (ca) f
• Hebrew: אֶפְשָׁרוּת f (efsharút)
• Malay: kemungkinan
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romansch: pussaivladad f (Rumantsch Grischun)
• Spanish: posibilidad (es) f

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.