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Glite Dictionary
✅ Can happen 🟢 A real option
possible

possible

4 2.7
A thing that can be done or achieved
  • noun
  • /ˈpɑːsəbl/
translation icon : posibilidad
  • Helen O'Brien had told me that the DMV had come up with 16 possibles.
  • list of possibles
  • possibles bag
  • possibles pouch

Examples

  • We're closing in, sir, but there are 11 possibles left.

    Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)

  • We have three confirmed victims and four possibles.

    Midnight Show (2016)

  • And what were the possible ways to fix it?

  • You want to check the other list of possibles tonight?

    Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)

  • There were other possibles in the files.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Want to gather up your possibles and come along?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Gather up your possibles and I'll meet up with you later.

    The Alamo (1960)

  • When it comes to serious conditions, though, even if they are not the most likely diagnosis, we are interested in knowing that they are on the 'possibles' list.

    Academic text (2012)

  • There's lots of possibles we haven't tried yet.

    The Sugarland Express (1974)

  • The coach outlined several possibles for improving the team's performance this season.

Synonyms

possibility
vspossible
∞ 2.0

A chance that something may happen

is about a doable option or opportunity rather than a mere chance

Antonyms

impossibility
37 5.3

A situation in which something cannot happen

Idioms

as soon as possible
244 1.8

As quickly as you can without delay

as much as possible
82 1.4

As far as you can

as far as possible
8 2.7

As much as you can

How Likely

certainty
  • Literature
202 3.4
probability
473 3.6
possible
4 2.7
impossibility
37 5.3

Surface Forms

possible singular
possibles plural

Etymology

Possible as a noun comes from the Latin posse, 'to be able', and is related to the idea of potential. A 'possible' is a thing that can be done, so the phrase 'the art of the possible' means choosing what can really be achieved.