| Noun | 1. | potential - the inherent capacity for coming into beingpossibleness, possibility - capability of existing or happening or being true; "there is a possibility that his sense of smell has been impaired" latency - the state of being not yet evident or active prospect - the possibility of future success; "his prospects as a writer are excellent" | |
| 2. | potential - the difference in electrical charge between two points in a circuit expressed in voltsevoked potential - the electrical response of the central nervous system produced by an external stimulus; "he measured evoked potentials with an electroencephalogram" resting potential - the potential difference between the two sides of the membrane of a nerve cell when the cell is not conducting an impulse | |
| Adj. | 1. | potential - existing in possibility; "a potential problem"; "possible uses of nuclear power"actual, existent - presently existing in fact and not merely potential or possible; "the predicted temperature and the actual temperature were markedly different"; "actual and imagined conditions" | |
| 2. | potential - expected to become or be; in prospect; "potential clients"; "expected income"prospective - concerned with or related to the future; "prospective earnings"; "a prospective mother"; "the statute is solely prospective in operation" | |