potential

adjective

• having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future:a two-pronged campaign to woo potential customers

noun

• 1latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness:a young broadcaster with great potential the potentials of the technology were never wholly controllable
• (often potential for/to do something) the possibility of something happening or of someone doing something in the future:the crane operator’s clear view reduces the potential for accidents pesticides with the potential to cause cancer

• 2 Physics the quantity determining the energy of mass in a gravitational field or of charge in an electric field.