- 1rB2
/pəˈtenʃəli/
used before an adjective or adverb to say that something is not dangerous, useful, serious, etc. now, but could become so later.
潛在地；可能會
核心畫面
One way to hold it: the thing is not that way yet, but the door to becoming that way is open. Saying a leak is potentially dangerous does not say anyone has been hurt — it says the harm is sitting there, waiting for the right conditions.
可以想成：現在還不是那樣，但通往那樣的門是開著的。說一個漏水處 potentially dangerous，並不是說…更多收起
可以想成：現在還不是那樣，但通往那樣的門是開著的。說一個漏水處 potentially dangerous，並不是說已經出事了，而是說危險就擺在那裡，等條件湊齊。它總是放在形容詞或副詞前面（potentially serious、potentially useful），作用是把那個形容詞從「事實」往後退一步，變成「有機會走到那一步」。原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
potentiallyadv/pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/
- 1
In a manner showing much potential; with the possibility of happening in a given way.
- Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.
- Its impending end has rung alarm bells across social media, with a baseline tariff as high as 145% depending on the carrier set to take effect on Chinese imports, potentially more than doubling the cost for all those cheap products deal-hungry Americans scooped up.
- 2
obsoletePowerfully, strongly.
- I freely assert, that the cosmopolite philosopher cannot, for his life, point out one single peaceful influence, which within the last sixty years has operated more potentially upon the whole broad world, taken in one aggregate, than the high and mighty business of whaling.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。