potential

See also: Potential

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Late Latin potentialis, from Latin potentia (“power”), from potens (“powerful”); synchronically analysable as potent +‎ -ial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈtɛnʃəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: po‧ten‧tial

Noun

potential (countable and uncountable, plural potentials)

1. Currently unrealized ability (with the most common adposition being to)

   Even from a young age it was clear that she had the potential to become a great musician.

2. (physics) The gravitational potential: the radial (irrotational, static) component of a gravitational field, also known as the Newtonian potential or the gravitoelectric field.
3. (physics) The work (energy) required to move a reference particle from a reference location to a specified location in the presence of a force field, for example to bring a unit positive electric charge from an infinite distance to a specified point against an electric field.
4. (grammar) A verbal construction or form stating something is possible or probable.

Synonyms

• noumenon
• spirit

Antonyms

• matter
• phenomenon

Related terms

• potence
• potency
• potent
• potentate
• potentiality

Translations

currently unrealized ability

• Catalan: potencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 潛力／潜力 (zh) (qiánlì), 潜力 (zh) (qiánlì), 潛質／潜质, 潜质 (qiánzhì)

• Esperanto: potencialo n
• Finnish: potentiaali (fi)
• French: possibilités (fr) f pl, potentiel (fr) m
• Galician: potencial
• German: Potential (de) n
• Greek: δυναμικό (el) n (dynamikó)
• Hungarian: potenciál (hu)
• Irish: cumas (ga) m, acmhainneacht f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: potenziale (it)
• Japanese: 可能性 (ja) (かのうせい, kanōsei), ポテンシャル (ja) (potensharu), 潜在力 (せんざいりょく, senzairyoku), 潜在能力 (せんざいのうりょく, senzai nōryoku)
• Lao: ສັກກະຍະພາບ (sak ka nya phāp), ທ່າແຮງ (thā hǣng)
• Malay: potensi
• Maori: pito mata, torohū
• Polish: potencjał (pl) m
• Portuguese: potencial (pt) m
• Romanian: potențial (ro) n
• Russian: потенциа́л (ru) m (potɛnciál)
• Spanish: potencial (es)
• Swedish: potential (sv) c
• Thai: ศักยภาพ (th) (sàk-gà-yá-pâap)
• Turkish: gizil (tr), gizli (tr), potansiyel (tr)
• Vietnamese: tiềm năng (vi)

physics: the radial component of a gravitational field

• Catalan: potencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 勢能／势能 (zh) (qiánnéng)

• Finnish: potentiaali (fi)
• Hungarian: potenciál (hu)
• Irish: poitéinseal m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 位置エネルギー (ja) (ichi enerugī)
• Portuguese: potencial (pt) m
• Tagalog: kaigtingan
• Turkish: gizil güç (tr), potansiyel (tr)

energy of a unit electrical charge

• Catalan: potencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 電勢／电势 (zh) (diànshì), 电势 (zh) (diànshì), 電位／电位 (zh) (diànwèi), 电位 (zh) (diànwèi)

• Czech: potenciál m
• Finnish: potentiaali (fi)
• German: Potential (de) n
• Hungarian: potenciál (hu)
• Irish: poitéinseal m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 電位 (でんい, den'i), ポテンシャル (ja) (potensharu)
• Polish: potencjał (pl) m
• Portuguese: potencial (pt) m
• Romanian: potențial (ro) n
• Russian: потенциа́л (ru) m (potɛnciál)
• Swedish: potential (sv) c
• Turkish: gizil güç (tr), potansiyel (tr)

grammar: verbal construction

• Finnish: potentiaali (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: cumas (ga) m

Adjective

potential (not comparable)

1. Existing in possibility, not in actuality.

   Synonyms: noumenal, spiritual, virtual

   Antonyms: actual, phenomenal, real

   • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, Chartism, Chapman & Hall, page 229:

     The heroic man,—and is not every man, God be thanked, a potential hero?—has to do so, in all times and circumstances.

2. (archaic) Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result

   Synonyms: efficacious, influential

   • 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello:

     And hath, in his effect, a voice potential

3. (physics) A potential field is an irrotational (static) field.
   • 1997, Physics-Uspekhi, volume 40, numbers 1-6, American Institute of Physics, page 39:

     From Maxwell equations (6.20) it follows that the electric field is potential: E(r) = −gradφ(r).

4. (physics) A potential flow is an irrotational flow.
   • 2009, Grigory E. Volovik, The Universe in a Helium Droplet‎^[1], Oxford University Press, page 60:

     The non-viscous flow of the vacuum should be potential (irrotational).

5. (grammar) Referring to a verbal construction of form stating something is possible or probable.

Translations

existing in possibility

• Catalan: potencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 潛在／潜在 (zh) (qiánzài), 潜在 (zh) (qiánzài)

• Czech: potenciální (cs) m, potencionální (cs) m
• Dutch: potentieel (nl)
• Finnish: mahdollinen (fi), potentiaalinen (fi)
• French: potentiel (fr)
• German: möglich (de), potenziell (de), potentiell (de)
• Hebrew: פוטנציאלי (potentziáli)
• Icelandic: mögulegur (is)
• Irish: ionchasach, poitéinsiúil, féideartha
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: potenziale (it)
• Japanese: 潜在的 (せんざいてき, senzaiteki)
• Lao: ບົ່ມຊ້ອນ (bom sǭn)
• Lithuanian: galimas (lt) m
• Maori: torohū
• Polish: potencjalny (pl) m
• Portuguese: potencial (pt)
• Russian: потенциа́льный (ru) (potɛnciálʹnyj), возмо́жный (ru) (vozmóžnyj)
• Spanish: potencial (es)
• Swedish: potentiell (sv)
• Tagalog: binitin
• Turkish: gizil (tr)

Further reading

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

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Swedish

Noun

potential c

1. potential

Declension

Declension of potential
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	potential	potentialen	potentialer	potentialerna
Genitive	potentials	potentialens	potentialers	potentialernas

Related terms

• potens
• potentialvandring
• potentiell