POSSIBLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does possibly mean? 

• POSSIBLY (adverb)
  The adverb POSSIBLY has 2 senses:

1. by chance

2. to a degree possible of achievement or by possible means

  Familiarity information: POSSIBLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POSSIBLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

By chance

Synonyms:

maybe; mayhap; peradventure; perchance; perhaps; possibly

Context example:

it may peradventure be thought that there never was such a time

Sense 2

Meaning:

To a degree possible of achievement or by possible means

Context example:

they can't possibly get here in time for the funeral?

Antonym:

impossibly (to a degree impossible of achievement)

Pertainym:

possible (capable of happening or existing)

 Context examples 

I told him I hoped he would not think it wrong, but I couldn't possibly take them from Miss Murdstone.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A lipid metabolism modulator which may inhibit angiogenesis, thereby possibly having antitumor activity.

(CT2584 HMS, NCI Thesaurus)

You might possibly find that there was something in it.

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

Encoded by human DEC1 Gene, widely expressed 70-amino acid DEC1 Protein is a candidate tumor suppressor protein of unknown function; possibly negative regulation of cell proliferation.

(DEC1 Protein, NCI Thesaurus)

The storm has been monitored since 1830 and has possibly existed for more than 350 years.

(NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Spots Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

This agent also acts as a biological response modulator, possibly inhibiting angiogenesis and tumor growth through alterations in growth factor expression.

(Clarithromycin, NCI Thesaurus)

This agent may also sensitize tumor cells to cyctostatic drugs, possibly through the mTOR-dependent inhibition of Akt phosphorylation.

(Atorvastatin calcium, NCI Thesaurus)

Then where could they possibly be?

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

This agent may sensitize drug-resistant tumor cells to other antineoplastic agents, possibly through a mechanism involving the down-regulation of thymidylate synthase.

(Belinostat, NCI Thesaurus)

Before you have a transplant, you need to get high doses of chemotherapy and possibly radiation.

(Bone Marrow Transplantation, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)