<< Back to dictionary

The Meaning of potential

  • (a.) Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result; efficacious; influential.
  • (a.) Existing in possibility, not in actuality.
  • (n.) Anything that may be possible; a possibility; potentially.
  • (n.) In the theory of gravitation, or of other forces acting in space, a function of the rectangular coordinates which determine the position of a point, such that its differential coefficients with respect to the coordinates are equal to the components of the force at the point considered; -- also called potential function, or force function. It is called also Newtonian potential when the force is directed to a fixed center and is inversely as the square of the distance from the center.
  • (n.) The energy of an electrical charge measured by its power to do work; hence, the degree of electrification as referred to some standard, as that of the earth; electro-motive force.

Synonyms

potence , potency , potentiality , voltage , authorization , strength , effectiveness , potential difference , capableness , potential drop , say-so , capability , dominance , authority , authorisation , electric potential , electromotive force , emf , possible , likely , probable , latent

Antonyms

actual , effective , retrospective , existent

Rhymes

confidential , consequential , credential , deferential , differential , essential , existential , experiential , exponential , henschel , hentschel , inconsequential , inferential , influential , jurisprudential , nonessential , nonresidential , preferential , presidential , providential , prudential , quintessential , residential , reverential , sequential , tangential , torrential , vice-presidential