as in possibilities
something that can develop or become actual
a time when cloning was merely a potential and the stuff of science fiction
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Recent Examples of potentials
Fortunately, by Gemini season, your world gets a little brighter — new ideas, travel plans or opportunities open doors to new potentials.
—
Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 1 May 2026
Your mind may drift toward education or travel potentials during the Virgo moon.
—Usa Today, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2026
The simulations relied on AI models known as foundation potentials, which can perform atom-level calculations faster and at lower cost than traditional computational methods.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 21 Apr. 2026
All of the cumulative regions the wave passes through, with all of the growth and shrinkages that occur, imprint themselves onto the wave, as do the initial and final gravitational potentials.
—Big Think, 3 Apr. 2026
Kudo agrees, adding matte and cat-eye finishes as chic potentials for reds and pinks, respectively.
—Calin Van Paris, InStyle, 5 Feb. 2026
Michael Levin, a researcher at Tufts University, has blocked cell channels to manipulate the membrane potentials of developing worm embryos, causing genetically identical worms to develop different body plans.
—Elise Cutts, Quanta Magazine, 12 Jan. 2026
The tiles thus became an instrument, a resonating body; the installation paid respect to the generative potentials embedded in natural materials, including the clay soil from which the tiles were made.
—Hung Duong, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
These signals come in forms such as action potentials (resembling animal nerve cells, though slower) and variation potentials (often linked with stress responses).
—Madison Dapcevich, Outside, 19 Nov. 2025
Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 1 May 2026
Your mind may drift toward education or travel potentials during the Virgo moon.
—Usa Today, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2026
The simulations relied on AI models known as foundation potentials, which can perform atom-level calculations faster and at lower cost than traditional computational methods.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 21 Apr. 2026
All of the cumulative regions the wave passes through, with all of the growth and shrinkages that occur, imprint themselves onto the wave, as do the initial and final gravitational potentials.
—Big Think, 3 Apr. 2026
Kudo agrees, adding matte and cat-eye finishes as chic potentials for reds and pinks, respectively.
—Calin Van Paris, InStyle, 5 Feb. 2026
Michael Levin, a researcher at Tufts University, has blocked cell channels to manipulate the membrane potentials of developing worm embryos, causing genetically identical worms to develop different body plans.
—Elise Cutts, Quanta Magazine, 12 Jan. 2026
The tiles thus became an instrument, a resonating body; the installation paid respect to the generative potentials embedded in natural materials, including the clay soil from which the tiles were made.
—Hung Duong, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
These signals come in forms such as action potentials (resembling animal nerve cells, though slower) and variation potentials (often linked with stress responses).
—Madison Dapcevich, Outside, 19 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for potentials
Noun
-
Many people still associate these feelings of modern belonging with the loftiest human possibilities; hence the powerful emotions that are generated when they are brought together—at the Olympic Games, for instance, or the United Nations headquarters in New York.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
-
And mistaking one for the other is another legacy of how the Cold War foreshortened the humanistic possibilities of the intellectual revolution of the past eighty years—a revolution that has, miraculously, allowed people to communicate with machines using human languages.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
Noun
-
And where there is injustice and frustration, the potentialities for violence are greater.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
12 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Internationally, however, the film’s distribution prospects rest largely on Cotillard, also burdened with the heaviest dramatic lifting to do as the stricken, unworldly protagonist who bridges the film’s two improbably connected realms.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
18 May 2026
-
Cosell spends his off-seasons poring over prospects’ game tapes to assess their viability as pros.—
Dan Greene,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Potentials.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potentials. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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