as in possibility
something that can develop or become actual
would like to see a colony on the moon as an actuality and not merely a potentiality
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Recent Examples of potentiality
Each of these sentiments points to the rich, fertile space that exists at the margins—of the body, of language, of the photograph—while also emphasizing the creative potentialities of touch, the action that propels these often porous edges to meet.
—
Jessica Simmons-Reid, Artforum, 1 June 2025
The time lapses don’t connect these scenes narratively so much as suggest the potentialities of a constantly warping persona.
—Armond White, National Review, 14 May 2025
In a striking parallel to the 1990s, epochal thinking about the potentialities of a high technology society has once again upended politics.
—Jacob Bruggeman & Casey Eilbert / Made By History, TIME, 3 Mar. 2025
Practically, then, the translator reads with an eye to understanding the affordances offered by a text—to re-creating its potentialities, rather than merely offering a lexical equivalent.
—Max Norman, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for potentiality
Jessica Simmons-Reid, Artforum, 1 June 2025
The time lapses don’t connect these scenes narratively so much as suggest the potentialities of a constantly warping persona.
—Armond White, National Review, 14 May 2025
In a striking parallel to the 1990s, epochal thinking about the potentialities of a high technology society has once again upended politics.
—Jacob Bruggeman & Casey Eilbert / Made By History, TIME, 3 Mar. 2025
Practically, then, the translator reads with an eye to understanding the affordances offered by a text—to re-creating its potentialities, rather than merely offering a lexical equivalent.
—Max Norman, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for potentiality
Recent Examples of Synonyms for potentiality
Noun
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In June 2023, OpenAI’s Sam Altman dismissed the possibility that a small team with $10 million could build a competitive large language model.—
Steven Wolfe Pereira,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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The growing awareness that, even in mild COVID cases, the possibility exists for longer-term, often undetected organ damage also warrants more examination, researchers say.—
Stephanie Armour,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Because of the potential for wintry precipitation, several schools chose to reschedule their games for Thursday, including five of the six Class 6A contests.—
Erick Taylor,
Arkansas Online,
22 Jan. 2026
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Horvath said the subway has the potential to take about one-quarter of those 400,000 daily commuters out of their cars, off the 405 and onto public transit.—
Steve Scauzillo,
Daily News,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Potentiality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potentiality. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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