possibilités

Possibilités is the plural form of possibilité in French, used to denote things that may occur or be the case. The term covers a range from concrete chances to abstract contingencies, including opportunities and potential states of affairs.

The word derives from Latin possibilitas, via Old French possibilite; the root poter, meaning to be able, is related to the notion of capability.

In philosophy, modality studies possibility and necessity. Philosophers distinguish logical, physical, and epistemic possibility. Possible-worlds semantics provide a common framework for analyzing these notions.

In probability theory, a possibility is an outcome in a defined sample space; probability measures assign likelihoods to these possibilities. The total set of all possible outcomes is the outcome space.

In computing and decision theory, the space of possibilities refers to all candidate options that could be considered. Algorithms, planning, and optimization aim to explore or constrain this space efficiently.

In linguistics, the concept of possibility is expressed through modal expressions; in French, pouvoir is used to convey ability or possibility, while possibilité names the abstract notion itself.

See also modal logic, possible world, probability theory, option, contingency.