English → Latin
“possibility” in Latin
possibilitāspossibility; power (to do something)conditiōa making, creating; condition, status, position, circumstancefacultāsability to do any thing easily, skill, capacity, power; means, resources; opportunity, chance
The English word possibility itself goes back to Latin possum, through possibilitās.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
possibility
The property of being possible, possibilitas (late; to be employed only as philosophical technical term): conditio (a possible case; Cic., C. Rabir. perd., 5, 16): facultas or potestas aliquid faciendi (power of doing anything): aditus alicujus rei or aliquid faciendi, or ad aliquid faciendum (opportunity or permission given from without; Vid: Caes., B. C. 1, 31 and 74; B.G., 1, 43): locus alicujus rei or aliquid faciendi (occasion given by circumstances; e.g., locus nocendi; locus vituperandi; locus est amoris augendi). There is no possibility, nulla datur potestas. When “possibility” denotes the presence or existence of a thing, we must use a by circumlocution with esse posse; e.g., he denies the possibility of this idea, negat esse posse hanc notionem; so, also, when “possibility” denotes that a thing is capable of being accomplished, fieri or effici posse; e.g., they deny the possibility of a thing, aliquid fieri posse negant: not to perceive the possibility of a thing, non intelligere, aliquid fieri posse or qua ratione aliquid fieri posse: if there be any possibility, si potest (sc. fieri; Vid: POSSIBLE).
A possible thing, res, quae fieri potest.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for possibility?
- The usual Latin words for “possibility” are possibilitās, conditiō, facultās. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.