potential

1. 1.

   existing in possibility

   “a potential problem”

   “possible uses of nuclear power”

   Synonymspossible

   Antonymsactual

   Similarlatent
2. 2.

   expected to become or be; in prospect

   “potential clients”

   Synonymslikely

   Similarprospective

Other forms of potential

plural

potentials·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about potential

What does potential mean?

potential means "the inherent capacity for coming into being". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in potential?

potential has 3 syllables: po-ten-tial. The stress falls on "ten". In IPA it is /pəˈtɛnʃəl/.

What is another word for potential?

Close synonyms include potentiality, potency, electric potential, potential difference, potential drop. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of potential?

The recorded antonyms are actual.

Is potential a common word?

potential is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.