possibility

1 a future prospect or potential; "this room has great possibilities"

2 capability of existing or happening or being true; "there is a possibility that his sense of smell has been impaired" [syn: possibleness] [ant: impossibility]

3 a tentative theory about the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"; "he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices" [syn: hypothesis, theory]

4 a possible alternative; "bankruptcy is always a possibility" [syn: possible action, opening]

English

Pronunciation

Noun

1. A likely outcome as in a permutation or combination of events.
2. An option or choice, usually used in context with future events.

Synonyms

• option
• choice

Antonyms

• impossibility

Related terms

• possible
• impossibility
• logical possibility
• possibility theory

Translations

• Arabic:
• Chinese: 可能性 (kěnéng xìng)
• Czech: možnost
• Dutch: mogelijkheid
• Esperanto: eblo, ebleco
• Finnish: mahdollisuus
• French: possibilité
• German: Möglichkeit
• Greek: δυνατότητα
• Hungarian: lehetőség
• Interlingua: possibilitate
• Italian: possibilità
• Japanese: 可能性 (かのうせい, kanō sei)
• Korean: 가능성 (ganeungseong)
• Lithuanian: galimybė
• Polish: możliwość
• Portuguese: possibilidade
• Romanian: posibil , posibilitate
• Russian: возможность (vozmóžnost’)
• Spanish: posibilidad
• Swedish: möglighet

Possibility condition or fact of being possible. The Latin origins of the word hint at ability. Possibility is also referring to something that "could happen", that is not precluded by the facts, but usually not probable.

• Subjunctive possibility
  • Logical possibility
• Possibility theory

See also

• Possible worlds
  • Best of all possible worlds

admissibility, aptitude, aptness, best bet, capacity, chance, conceivability, contingency, delitescence, dormancy, eventuality, favorable prospect, feasibility, good chance, good opportunity, good possibility, latency, latent content, latent meaningfulness, latentness, liability, liableness, likelihood, likeliness, main chance, obligation, odds, odds-on, odds-on chance, opportunity, plausibility, possibilities, potential, potentiality, probability, promise, proneness, prospect, sporting chance, sure bet, sure thing, virtuality, weakness, well-grounded hope