POSSIBILITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does possibility mean? 

• POSSIBILITY (noun)
  The noun POSSIBILITY has 4 senses:

1. a future prospect or potential

2. capability of existing or happening or being true

3. a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena

4. a possible alternative

  Familiarity information: POSSIBILITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POSSIBILITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A future prospect or potential

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

this room has great possibilities

Hypernyms ("possibility" is a kind of...):

expectation; outlook; prospect (belief about (or mental picture of) the future)

Derivation:

possible (existing in possibility)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Capability of existing or happening or being true

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

possibility; possibleness

Context example:

there is a possibility that his sense of smell has been impaired

Hypernyms ("possibility" is a kind of...):

being; beingness; existence; face of the earth (the state or fact of existing)

Attribute:

possible (capable of happening or existing)

impossible (not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "possibility"):

conceivability; conceivableness (the state of being conceivable)

achievability; attainability; attainableness (the state of being achievable)

potency; potential; potentiality (the inherent capacity for coming into being)

chance; opportunity (a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances)

Antonym:

impossibility (incapability of existing or occurring)

Derivation:

possible (capable of happening or existing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

hypothesis; possibility; theory

Context example:

he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices

Hypernyms ("possibility" is a kind of...):

concept; conception; construct (an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "possibility"):

hypothetical (a hypothetical possibility, circumstance, statement, proposal, situation, etc.)

gemmule (the physically discrete element that Darwin proposed as responsible for heredity)

framework; model; theoretical account (a hypothetical description of a complex entity or process)

conjecture; speculation (a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence))

assumption; supposal; supposition (a hypothesis that is taken for granted)

historicism (a theory that social and cultural events are determined by history)

Holonyms ("possibility" is a part of...):

theory (a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A possible alternative

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

opening; possibility; possible action

Context example:

bankruptcy is always a possibility

Hypernyms ("possibility" is a kind of...):

alternative; choice; option (one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "possibility"):

possible (something that can be done)

Derivation:

possible (existing in possibility)

 Context examples 

There was no possibility of rest.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Uranus, the planet of surprise, will be perfectly situated, so be open to the possibility.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Every possibility of good was before me, and the first of blessings secured, in obtaining her promises of faith and correspondence.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Proxima B is believed roughly Earth-sized and in its solar system's habitable zone, meaning it would have similar gravity to Earth and at least the possibility of liquid water.

(Simulations show planet orbiting Proxima Centauri could have liquid water, Wikinews)

The case certainly presents more features of interest and more possibility of development than I had originally thought.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It possessed many possibilities, was capable of being moulded into many different forms.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I am talking of possibilities, Charles.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The mere notion of the possibility of his ever seeing her again, appeared to terrify him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There is no possibility of a secret door, and the windows are quite thirty feet from the ground.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I had no idea what its possibilities were until those devils got hold of us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)