potentially

adverb

po·​ten·​tial·​ly pə-ˈten(t)-sh(ə-)lē 

: in a potential or possible state or condition

—used to describe the possible results or effects of something

a potentially dangerous situation [=a situation that has the potential to be or become dangerous]

a potentially useful feature

By creating a personal home page, anyone can publish material that potentially can be read by millions of people worldwide.

—Peter H. Lewis

The phenomenon seemed significant for both the science of immunology and, potentially, for medicine.

—Daniel J. Kevles

Potentially adding to the cost of the bail-out is the prevailing FDIC notion that some banks are simply too big to fail.

—L. J. Davis

The result, they say, is that children are less compelled to play outside, potentially stunting emotional and physical development and exacerbating a nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity.

—Sumathi Reddy

Examples of potentially in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

During Thursday’s Ghosts, Sas went ahead with his potentially deadly plan to get to Shiki by going in the ghost trap, even though crossing the Woodstone property in the box could smush him to death. —Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 10 Apr. 2025

Many more stars are potentially in store now that the bulk of the official selection has been revealed. —Nancy Tartaglione, Deadline, 10 Apr. 2025

However, some countries may benefit by taking advantage of the shifting production, with companies like Apple potentially moving some production to India. —Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Apr. 2025

Throughout the questions, those in the lineup are given the chance to pop their balloon at non-negotiables or stay their hand and potentially end the episode with a date. —Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for potentially

• essentially
• confidentially
• exponentially
• inferentially
• experientially