Skip to content

potentiellement

potentially

adverb poh-tahn-syel-MAHN Rare

Usage Note

Potentiellement signals that something may happen or may be true under certain conditions — cela pourrait potentiellement causer des problèmes. It is a favourite of administrative and media language. In informal speech, peut-être or éventuellement often replace it, though éventuellement is a false friend — it means 'possibly' not 'eventually'.

Examples

"Ce médicament est potentiellement dangereux."

Natural Translation

This medication is potentially dangerous.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore French by topic