📖 P — The English dictionary · page 47

possibility — Everyday, meaning 1: Something that might happen or might be true.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The chance that something can happen: «There is a possibility of rain.».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A choice or option you could take.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: possibilities (plural) The good things that something could become: «The old shed has possibilities.».↗ Example: There is a possibility of snow tomorrow.↗ · We listed every possibility when we rolled two dice.↗ · Is there any possibility we can stay up late?↗ · The detective did not rule out the possibility of a second thief.↗ · Moving to Canada is a real possibility for our family.↗ · A blank page is full of possibilities.↗ · Tossing a coin has two possibilities: heads or tails.↗ · Always think about the possibility of a slippery floor.↗

possible — Everyday, meaning 1: Possible means it can happen or can be done.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «As soon as possible» means as soon as you can.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «The best possible» means the best there can be.↗ Example: How many different pairs are possible?↗ · Make the largest possible number with 3, 5 and 1.↗ · Is it possible to share 7 sweets equally between 2?↗ · Pack as many boxes as possible.↗ · Is it possible to visit the Moon?↗ · Please reply as soon as possible.↗ · With practice, anything is possible.↗ · It is possible that it will snow tonight.↗ · "Is it possible to catch them?"↗ · Drawing the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet around the edge of a circle, it takes 231 lines, here called שְׁעָרִים sheʽarim ‘gates’, to connect every possible combination of 2 letters.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · By the science of the Sepher Jezirah the human spirit is fixed to truth, and in reason, and is able to take account of the possible development of intelligence by the evolutions of numbers.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · It’s possible that these four are meant to signify the four stomachs of ruminants, the functions of which were not wholly understood in the past and may have been believed to be present in humans.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗

possibly — Everyday, meaning 1: Perhaps; maybe — used when something could be true or could happen but you are not sure.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (with can/could) In any way possible: «I'll come as soon as I possibly can».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (in polite requests) «Could you possibly help me?».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (with can't) Used to say something is impossible: «I can't possibly eat all that».↗ Example: It will possibly rain later.↗ · Could you possibly open the window?↗ · That was possibly the best cake I've ever eaten.↗ · I can't possibly finish all this homework tonight!↗ · "Will you come?" "↗ Possibly."↗ · We'll get there as fast as we possibly can.↗ · What more can you possibly want?"↗

possum — Everyday, meaning 1: A possum is an Australian and New Zealand marsupial (an animal with a pouch) that lives in trees and comes out at night.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (US) Possum is the short name for opossum, an American animal with a pouch.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) «Play possum» means to pretend to be asleep or dead.↗ Example: A possum climbed onto our roof at night.↗ · Possums carry babies in a pouch.↗ · In New Zealand, possums eat birds' eggs and trees.↗ · The opossum, or possum, lives in America.↗ · My brother played possum so he wouldn't have to get up.↗ · We heard possums in the gum tree.↗ · (Australia) «G'day, possum» is a friendly name for someone you like.↗ · The possum's eyes shone in the torch light.↗

post — Everyday, meaning 1: A post is a strong pole stuck in the ground, for example to hold a fence or mark a goal.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The post (UK, Australia) is the mail: letters and parcels sent and delivered.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To post a letter is to send it by mail.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To post something online is to put it on a website.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: A post is a job or a place where someone stands on duty.↗ Example: A fence has 10 posts 2 m apart.↗ · Posts stand every 3 m along a 30 m path.↗ · She posted 4 letters and 2 parcels.↗ · How many posts are needed for a 20 m fence?↗ · The ball hit the post and bounced out.↗ · Has the post come yet?↗ · We posted Grandma a birthday card.↗ · Never post your address online.↗ · They had made up their minds to die at their post.↗ · And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.↗ (Torah DEU.6.9, JPS 1917)↗ · And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; (Torah DEU.11.20, JPS 1917)↗ · And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it.↗ (Torah EXO.12.7, JPS 1917)↗ · So also made he for the entrance of the temple door-posts of olive-wood, within a frame four-square; (Prophets 1KI.6.33, JPS 1917)↗ · And I will thrust thee from thy post, and from thy station shalt thou be pulled down.↗ (Prophets ISA.22.19, JPS 1917)↗ · He made also posts of threescore cubits; even unto the posts of the court in the gates round about.↗ (Prophets EZK.40.14, JPS 1917)↗

postage — Everyday, meaning 1: Postage is the money you pay to send a letter or parcel by post.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Postage is the stamps or marks on a letter showing it has been paid for.↗ Example: How much is the postage for this parcel?↗ · The book costs £8 plus £2 postage.↗ · Postage is free on orders over $20.↗ · The postage stamp had a picture of a bird.↗ · Heavier parcels need more postage.↗ · The total, including postage, came to €15.↗

postal — Everyday, meaning 1: To do with the post (mail): sending and delivering letters and parcels.↗ Example: Write your full postal address on the envelope.↗ · The postal worker delivers letters every morning.↗ · What is your postal code?↗ · The postal service was slow because of the snow.↗ · In Canada, a postal code has letters and numbers.↗ · Grandma sent the present by postal mail.↗

postbox — Everyday, meaning 1: (UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland) A public box, often red in the UK, where you put letters to be collected and posted.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A private box at your house or a post office where your own mail is delivered (more often «letterbox» or «mailbox»).↗ Example: I put my birthday card to Grandma in the postbox.↗ · The red postbox is at the end of our street.↗ · In Ireland, postboxes are painted green.↗ · The collection time on the postbox says half past five.↗ · We posted our letter to Santa in the postbox.↗ · Is there a postbox near the school?↗

postcard — Everyday, meaning 1: A postcard is a card, often with a picture on one side, that you write a short message on and send by post without an envelope.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A postcard can be any small picture card.↗ Example: We sent Nan a postcard from the beach.↗ · The postcard had a picture of a koala.↗ · Write a postcard telling a friend about your holiday.↗ · Postcards cost 80 cents each.↗ · I keep my postcards on the fridge.↗ · Wish you were here!↗ Love, Sam (on a postcard)↗

postcode — Everyday, meaning 1: A postcode is a group of letters and numbers added to the end of an address to help the post get delivered to the right place quickly.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A postcode also names the small area that shares it.↗ Example: Don't forget the postcode on the envelope.↗ · What's your postcode?↗ · Sat nav can find a house from its postcode.↗ · In America they call it a ZIP code.↗ · Learn your address and postcode in case you get lost.↗ · Never put your postcode on a public website.↗ · Our school and my house have the same postcode.↗ · The letter got lost because the postcode was wrong.↗

postdate — Everyday, meaning 1: To write a date on a cheque or document that is later than the day you write it, so it only counts from that later day.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) To happen or exist after something else: «These houses postdate the castle.».↗ Example: Dad postdated the cheque to the first of next month.↗ · The bank will not pay a postdated cheque before its date.↗ · The town's library postdates the church by two hundred years.↗ · These cave paintings postdate the oldest ones found in Spain.↗ · If something postdates another thing, it came later.↗ · The coins in the hoard postdate the Roman invasion.↗

poster — Everyday, meaning 1: A poster is a big printed picture or notice you hang on a wall.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A poster is also a person who posts messages online.↗ Example: She has 6 posters on her wall.↗ · Each poster costs 3 dollars.↗ · He made 12 posters.↗ · How many posters can she buy with 15 dollars?↗ · Our class made a poster about recycling.↗ · There's a poster of the solar system in the classroom.↗ · They put up posters about the missing cat.↗ · The sheriff nailed a «wanted» poster to the door.↗ · The poster needs a big, clear title.↗

posterior — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal, science) Posterior means at the back or behind; it is the opposite of anterior (at the front).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) Posterior can also mean later in time.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (humorous) Someone's posterior is their bottom.↗ Example: The posterior legs of a frog are longer than the front legs.↗ · The doctor checked the posterior part of the knee.↗ · A fish's tail is at its posterior end.↗ · (humorous) He slipped on the ice and landed on his posterior.↗ · (humorous) "Get your posterior off the sofa and help!" said Gran.↗ · The ear's posterior side is the side facing the back of your head.↗ · In science we label anterior (front) and posterior (back) on the diagram.↗ · Moses auditoribus in secundo divinse veritatis loco, hoc est in ratione quoe est posterior authoritate, habitus."↗ Parisiis, 1552.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · Moses auditoribus in secundo divinæ veritatis loco, hoc est in ratione quœ est posterior authoritate, habitus."↗ Parisiis, 1552.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

posterity — Everyday, meaning 1: All the people who will live in the future, long after us; the children and grandchildren still to come.↗ Example: The king said the tale must not be lost to posterity.↗ · What is good will shine brightly through posterity.↗ · We write things down so that posterity can read them.↗ · Let his posterity be cut off; in the generation following let their name be blotted out.↗ (Writings PSA.109.13, JPS 1917)↗

postern — Everyday, meaning 1: A small back gate or door in a castle wall, used to slip in or out unseen.↗ Example: All the doors and posterns were locked.↗ · He crept out through a postern as the clock struck nine.↗ · The guards did not see the postern.↗

postilion — Everyday, meaning 1: A servant who rode on one of the horses pulling a coach, guiding the team.↗ Example: The postilion blew his horn as the coach rolled on.↗ · Your father was the postilion, said Ajola.↗ · The robbers killed the coachman and the postilions.↗

postman — Everyday, meaning 1: A postman is a man whose job is to collect and deliver letters and parcels.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A woman who does this job is a postwoman; «mail carrier» or «postal worker» works for anyone.↗ Example: The postman brought a parcel for me!↗ · Our postman comes at about ten o'clock.↗ · The dog always barks at the postman.↗ · In the USA the mail carrier puts letters in the mailbox.↗ · Give the postman a smile and say thank you.↗ · The postman rang the bell because the package was too big for the letterbox.↗ · Then the postman gave me a letter; it was from you.↗

postpone — Everyday, meaning 1: To move an event to a later time instead of doing it now.↗ e.g. The match was postponed because of rain.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) To delay doing something.↗ Example: The football match was postponed because of the storm.↗ · Our test has been postponed until next week.↗ · Can we postpone the party?↗ Half the class is sick.↗ · The trip was postponed by 2 days.↗ · They postponed the launch because of high winds.↗ · Don't postpone your homework until the last minute.↗ · The concert is postponed, not cancelled.↗ · The sports day was postponed twice.↗ · His master was never one for postponing a duty.↗

postponement — Everyday, meaning 1: A postponement is when an event is moved to a later time instead of happening when planned.↗ Example: The match had a postponement because of snow.↗ · We were sad about the postponement of sports day.↗ · The postponement was only for one week.↗ · Rain caused another postponement.↗ · The school announced a postponement of the trip.↗ · The postponement of the concert gave us more time to practise.↗

postulate — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: An idea or statement that is taken as true as the starting point for an argument.↗

posture — Everyday, meaning 1: Posture is the way you hold your body when you stand, sit or walk.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Posture can also mean the attitude someone shows towards something.↗ Example: Sit up straight — good posture protects your back.↗ · His tired posture showed he had had a long day.↗ · Carrying a heavy bag on one shoulder is bad for your posture.↗ · Dancers work hard on their posture.↗ · Check your posture when you use a laptop.↗ · The cat's posture changed when it saw the dog.↗ · Arden was long in this posture when he died; but though he was dead Naois would not let him go.↗

pot — Everyday, meaning 1: A pot is a deep round container for cooking, like a saucepan.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A pot is a container for growing plants (a flowerpot).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A pot can be a container for drinks or food: a teapot, a pot of jam.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To pot a plant is to put it in a pot.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: «Pots of money» means a lot of money.↗ Example: Each pot has 3 flowers.↗ · She has 8 pots.↗ · The pot holds 4 liters of soup.↗ · How many pots are needed for 15 plants?↗ · Grandma made a big pot of stew.↗ · We potted the seedlings in small pots.↗ · There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.↗ · Turn the pot handle away from the edge of the stove.↗ · Mum made a pot of tea.↗ · The cooking pot was wonderful, too.↗ · And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, the flesh-hooks, and the fire-pans; all the vessels thereof made he of brass.↗ (Torah EXO.38.3, JPS 1917)↗ · And thou shalt make its pots to take away its ashes, and its shovels, and its basins, and its flesh-hooks, and its fire-pans; all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.↗ (Torah EXO.27.3, JPS 1917)↗ · And every thing whereupon any part of their carcass falleth shall be unclean; whether oven, or range for pots, it shall be broken in pieces; they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.↗ (Torah LEV.11.35, JPS 1917)↗ · And Hiram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins.↗ (Prophets 1KI.7.40, JPS 1917)↗ · And Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins.↗ (Writings 2CH.4.11, JPS 1917)↗ · Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot and burning rushes.↗ (Writings JOB.41.12, JPS 1917)↗