Potentiality
[pəʊtenʃɪ'ælɪtɪ] or [pə,tɛnʃɪ'æləti]
Definition
(n.) The quality or state of being potential; possibility, not actuality; inherent capability or disposition, not actually exhibited.
Edited by Candice
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Possibility.
Edited by Dorothy
Examples
- As an instrument, in these things, he was marvellous, she had never seen any man with his potentiality. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- We may mean by potentiality a merely dormant or quiescent state--a capacity to become something different under external influences. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But we also mean by capacity an ability, a power; and by potentiality potency, force. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Gradually it drew away all his potentiality, it bled him into the dark, it weaned him of life and drew him away into the darkness. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- It is noteworthy that the terms capacity and potentiality have a double meaning, one sense being negative, the other positive. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It also has vast potentialities for good and evil. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It had vast potentialities for good and evil--all it wanted was harnessing and directing. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Editor: Nolan