possibility

possibility
I
(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)
Capability of being done
Nouns — possibility, potentiality, likelihood, liability; what may be, what is possible; compatibility (see agreement); reasonability; reasonableness (see reasoning); practicability, expedience, feasibility, potency, workability, workableness, accessibility, attainability; contingency, latency, probability, chance, hazard, outlook. Informal, toss-up, show, outside chance.
Verbs — be possible, stand a chance or show; admit of, bear; put in the way of; open up.
Adjectives — possible, potential, in or on the cards or dice, within the bounds of possibility, in posse; conceivable, imaginable, credible, thinkable, reasonable, plausible, presumable; compatible (see agreement); practicable, feasible, negotiable, workable, performable, achievable, accessible, superable, surmountable, attainable, obtainable, expedient, within reach; contingent, probably, likely; in the running; latent. Informal, liable, earthly.
Adverbs — possibly, by possibility; perhaps, perchance, peradventure; it may be, maybe, haply, mayhap; if [humanly] possible, [wind and] weather permitting, everything being equal, as luck may have it, God willing, Deo volente, DV. Informal, on the off-chance, could be.
Quotations — Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible (Richard Sheridan), If it be possible, let this cup pass from me (Bible), With God all things are possible (Bible), Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable... the art of the next best (Otto von Bismarck), Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable (John Kenneth Galbraith).
Antonyms, see impossibility.
II
(Roget's IV) n.
1. [The condition of being possible]
Syn. plausibility, feasibility, potentiality, likelihood; see chance 1 , probability .
2. [A possible happening]
Syn. hazard, chance, contingency, occasion, circumstance, hope, occurrence, fortuity, hap, happening, outside chance, incident, instance; see also accident 2 , event 1 , opportunity 1 .
III
(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.
chance, likelihood, odds, feasibility, prospect, probablity, plausibility, eventuality, hazard.
IV
(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The likeliness of a given event occurring: chance, likelihood, odds, probability, prospect (used in plural). See LIKELY. 2. Something that may occur or be done: contingency, eventuality. See POSSIBLE.

English dictionary for students. 2013.

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  • Possibility — is the condition or fact of being possible. The Latin origins of the word hint at ability. Possibility also refers to something that could happen , that is not precluded by the facts, but usually not probable. Impossible denotes that something is …   Wikipedia

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  • possibility — late 14c., “condition of being possible,” from O.Fr. possibilité (13c.), from L. possibilitas, from possibilis (see POSSIBLE (Cf. possible)). Meaning “a possible thing or substance” is from c.1400. Related: Possibilities …   Etymology dictionary

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  • possibility */*/*/ — UK [ˌpɒsəˈbɪlətɪ] / US [ˌpɑsəˈbɪlətɪ] noun Word forms possibility : singular possibility plural possibilities Get it right: possibility: The noun possibility is never followed by an infinitive. Use the pattern the/a possibility of doing something …   English dictionary

  • possibility — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ exciting, interesting, intriguing ▪ endless, many ▪ The resort offers endless possibilities for entertainment. ▪ only …   Collocations dictionary

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  • possibility — pos|si|bil|i|ty W2S2 [ˌpɔsıˈbılıti US ˌpa: ] n plural possibilities 1.) [U and C] if there is a possibility that something is true or that something will happen, it might be true or it might happen ▪ There s always a possibility that he might go… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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