Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Potential: Existing in possibility, not yet actual or realized. Describes a quality, ability, or resource that is not currently visible or active but could become so in the future.
   • Latent: Present but not visible, obvious, or active; concealed within. Often used to describe something dormant, such as a hidden danger or an undeveloped talent.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Anh ấy có khả năng tiềm tàng để trở thành một nhà lãnh đạo. (He has the potential to become a leader.)
  • Đó là một mối nguy hiểm tiềm tàng cần được nhận diện. (That is a latent danger that needs to be identified.)
  • Chúng ta phải biết khai thác những lợi thế tiềm tàng của đất nước. (We must know how to exploit the country's potential advantages.)

Advanced Usage

• Used in formal, academic, or analytical contexts to discuss underlying factors, unobserved capacities, or future possibilities.
• Often modifies abstract nouns like (risk), (ability/capacity), (strength), (energy).

Variants and Related Words

• Tiềm ẩn (adj): Also means latent, hidden, or concealed. It can sometimes be used interchangeably with , though may emphasize a deeper state of being hidden or buried.
  • Sự bất ổn tiềm ẩn trong xã hội. (The latent instability in society.)

Synonyms

• Potential: Possible as opposed to actual.
• Latent: Existing but not yet developed or manifest.
• Dormant: Inactive but capable of becoming active.
• Underlying: Fundamental but not immediately obvious.

Related Idioms

• While itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, it is a key component in descriptive phrases about hidden qualities or risks.
  • Sức mạnh tiềm tàng: latent strength.
  • Nguy cơ tiềm tàng: potential/latent risk.

adj

1. potential, latent