Webster's English Dictionary

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potential

Cross references:
  1. latent                
 
1. po.ten.tial \p*-'ten-ch*l\ \-'tench-(*-)le-\ aj [ME, fr. LL potentialis, 
   fr. potentia potentiality, fr. L, power, f]r. potent-, potens 1: existing 
   in possibility : capable of development into actuality  2: expressing 
   possibility; specif : of, relating to, or constituti ng a verb phrase 
   expressing possibility, liberty, or power by the use of an auxiliary with 
   the infinitive of the verb (as in "it may rain") - po.ten.tial.ly av
2. potential n 1: something that can develop or become actual  2: any of 
   various functions from which the intensity or the velocity at any  point in 
   a field may be readily calculated, specif : the degree of electrification 
   as referred to some standard