Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective In potential but not in actuality.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In a potential state of being; not yet actually existing, but ready to come into existence when certain conditions are fulfilled.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- In possibility; possible, although not yet in existence or come to pass; -- contradistinguished from
in esse .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective in
possibility , having apotential to exist, in potential but not in actuality, (contradistinguished byin esse ) - adverb in
possibility , having apotential to exist, in potential but not in actuality, (contradistinguished byin esse )
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Medieval Latin : Latin in, in + Latin posse, to be able.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From in meaning "in" + posse meaning "to be able" or "to can".
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Examples
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john commented on the word in posse
In potential but not in actuality.
Medieval Latin : Latin in, in + Latin posse, to be able.
"At night, late, they gone, I did get him to put out of this account our sums that are in posse only yet, which he approved of when told, but would never have stayed it if I had been gone."
Definition and quote from The Diary of Samuel Pepys:
January 27, 2008