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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Possibility \Pos'si*bil"i*ty\, noun; pl. {Possibilities}. [F. possibilit['e], L. possibilitas.]
1. The quality or state of being possible; the power of happening, being, or existing. ''All possibility of error.'' --Hooker. ''Latent possibilities of excellence.'' --Johnson.
2. That which is possible; a contingency; a thing or event that may not happen; a contingent interest, as in real or personal estate. --South. Burrill.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
possibility
noun
1: a future prospect or potential; "this room has great possibilities"
2: capability of existing or happening or being true; "there is a possibility that his sense of smell has been impaired" [syn: {possibleness}] [ant: {impossibility}]
3: a tentative theory about the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"; "he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices" [syn: {hypothesis}, {theory}]
4: a possible alternative; "bankruptcy is always a possibility" [syn: {possible action}, {opening}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
44 Moby Thesaurus words for "possibility": admissibility, aptitude, aptness, best bet, capacity, chance, conceivability, contingency, delitescence, dormancy, eventuality, favorable prospect, feasibility, good chance, good opportunity, good possibility, latency, latent content, latent meaningfulness, latentness, liability, liableness, likelihood, likeliness, main chance, obligation, odds, odds-on, odds-on chance, opportunity, plausibility, possibilities, potential, potentiality, probability, promise, proneness, prospect, sporting chance, sure bet, sure thing, virtuality, weakness, well-grounded hope
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |