English edit

Etymology edit

From potential +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/
  • (file)

Adverb edit

potentially (comparative more potentially, superlative most potentially)

  1. In a manner showing much potential; with the possibility of happening in a given way.
  2. (obsolete) Powerfully, strongly.
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
      I freely assert, that the cosmopolite philosopher cannot, for his life, point out one single peaceful influence, which within the last sixty years has operated more potentially upon the whole broad world, taken in one aggregate, than the high and mighty business of whaling.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit