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1 possibility
possibility [‚pɒsəˈbɪlɪtɪ]a. possibilité f• if by any possibility... si par hasard...• there is some possibility/not much possibility of success il y a des chances/peu de chances que ça marche• the firm saw good possibilities for expansion la compagnie entrevoyait de bonnes perspectives d'expansion• she agreed that the project had possibilities elle a admis que le projet avait un certain potentiel* * *[ˌpɒsə'bɪlətɪ] 1.1) (chance, prospect) possibilité f2) ( eventuality) éventualité fthe possibility of a refusal/of failure — l'éventualité d'un refus/d'un échec
2.the collapse of the company is now a possibility — l'effondrement de la société est à présent de l'ordre du possible
possibilities plural noun ( potential) -
2 possibility
1 noun∎ it's a possibility c'est une possibilité, c'est bien possible;∎ within the bounds of possibility dans la limite du possible;∎ the possibility of a settlement is fading fast la perspective d'un règlement est de moins en moins probable;∎ is there any possibility of you coming up for the weekend? pourriez-vous venir ce week-end?, y a-t-il des chances que vous veniez ce week-end?;∎ if there's any possibility of leaving early, I'll let you know s'il y a moyen de partir de bonne heure, je vous le ferai savoir;∎ there's no possibility of that happening il n'y a aucune chance ou aucun risque que cela se produise;∎ there's little possibility of any changes being made to the budget il est peu probable que le budget soit modifié;∎ there's a strong possibility we'll know the results tomorrow il est fort possible que nous connaissions les résultats demain;∎ they hadn't even considered the possibility that he might leave ils n'avaient même pas envisagé qu'il puisse partir∎ she's still a possibility elle conserve toutes ses chances(c) (possible event, outcome) éventualité f;∎ that is a distinct possibility c'est bien possible;∎ to allow for all possibilities parer à toute éventualité;∎ the possibilities are endless! les possibilités sont innombrables!(potential) possibilités fpl;∎ the job has a lot of possibilities le poste offre de nombreuses perspectives;∎ job possibilities possibilités fpl d'emploiUn panorama unique de l'anglais et du français > possibility
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3 possibility
A n1 (chance, prospect) possibilité f ; he had ruled out the possibility that he might win ou of winning il avait exclu la possibilité de gagner ; there is a definite possibility that he'll come il y a de très grandes chances qu'il vienne ; there is no possibility of him succeeding il est impossible qu'il réussisse ; the possibility of him succeeding ses chances de réussite ; there is no possibility of changing the text il est impossible de changer le texte ; within the bounds of possibility dans la limite du possible ; beyond the bounds of possibility au delà des limites du possible ; there is little or no possibility of a strike les chances de grève sont minimes ;2 ( eventuality) the possibility of a refusal/of failure l'éventualité d'un refus/d'un échec ; the collapse of the company is now a possibility l'effondrement de la société est à présent possible.B possibilities npl ( potential) the idea/the market has possibilities l'idée/le marché a un fort potentiel ; this invention opens up fantastic possibilities cette invention ouvre des perspectives fantastiques. -
4 possibility
plural - possibilities; noun (something that is possible; the state of being possible; (a) likelihood: There isn't much possibility of that happening; There's a possibility of war; The plan has possibilities (= looks as if it may be a good one).) possiblité -
5 possibility
possibilité; éventualité; chance (pour) queEnglish-French dictionary of law, politics, economics & finance > possibility
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6 possibility
possibilité f -
7 possibility of granting cover
possibilité de couverture (RL, 2e)English-French insurance dictionari > possibility of granting cover
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8 possibility, coupled, with, an, interest
possibilité f assortie d'un intérêtEnglish-French legislative terms > possibility, coupled, with, an, interest
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9 possibility, of, reverter
possibilité f de retourEnglish-French legislative terms > possibility, of, reverter
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10 to allow for the possibility
prévoir la possibilité/l'éventualité queEnglish-French dictionary of law, politics, economics & finance > to allow for the possibility
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11 remote possibility
vague possibilité; éventualité peu probableEnglish-French dictionary of law, politics, economics & finance > remote possibility
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12 within the realms of possibility
dans l'ordre des possibilités; du domaine du possibleEnglish-French dictionary of law, politics, economics & finance > within the realms of possibility
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13 cover (possibility of granting)
possibilité de couverture (Sachs)English-French insurance dictionari > cover (possibility of granting)
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14 might
might [maɪt]1. modal verba. ( = may)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When might expresses present, future or past possibility, it is often translated by peut-être, with the appropriate tense of the French verb.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━b. ( = could)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you might have told me you weren't coming! tu aurais pu me prévenir que tu ne viendrais pas !might I suggest that...? puis-je me permettre de suggérer que... ?c. ( = should) I might have known j'aurais dû m'en douter━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━d. (emphatic) and, I might add, it was entirely his fault et j'ajouterais que c'était entièrement de sa faute• why did he give her his credit card? -- you might well ask! mais pourquoi lui a-t-il donné sa carte de crédit ? -- va savoir !• one might well ask whether... on est en droit de se demander si...• try as he might, he couldn't do it il a eu beau essayer, il n'y est pas arrivé2. noun* * *I [maɪt]1) ( indicating possibility)‘will you come?’ - ‘I might’ — ‘tu viendras?’ - ‘peut-être’
you might have guessed that... — vous aurez peut-être deviné que...
try as I might, I can't do it — j'ai beau essayer, je n'y arrive pas
he was thinking about what might have been — il pensait à ce qui se serait passé si les choses avaient été différentes
if they had acted quickly he might well be alive — s'ils avaient agi plus vite il serait peut-être encore en vie
4) sout ( when making requests)and who, might I ask, are you? —
and who might you be? — ( aggressive) on peut savoir qui vous êtes?
5) ( when making suggestions)6) (when making statement, argument)one might argue ou it might be argued that — on pourrait dire or faire valoir que
as you ou one might expect — comme de bien entendu
7) (expressing reproach, irritation)I might have known ou guessed! — j'aurais dû m'en douter!
8) ( in concessives)II [maɪt]they might not be fast but they're reliable — ils ne sont peut-être pas rapides mais on peut au moins compter sur eux; well I 2. 2
1) ( power) puissance f2) ( physical strength) force f -
15 Usage note : might
Although usage shows that may and might are interchangeable in many contexts, might indicates a more remote possibility than may. French generally translates this element of possibility using peut-être with the appropriate verb tense:it might snow= il va peut-être neiger(It is also possible to translate this more formally using il se peut + subjunctive: il se peut qu’il neige). For particular examples see might1 1.It is possible to translate might differently depending on the nature of the context and the speaker’s point of view:he might not come= il risque de ne pas venirimplies that this is not a desirable outcome for the speaker ;he might not come= il pourrait ne pas venir or il se peut qu’il ne vienne pashowever, is neutral in tone. Where there is the idea of a possibility in the past which has not in fact occurred (see might1 2), French uses the past conditional of the verb (which is often pouvoir):it might have been serious (but wasn’t in fact)= ça aurait pu être graveThis is also the case where something which could have taken place did not, thus causing annoyance:you might have said thanks!= tu aurais pu dire merci!(see might1 7).might, as the past tense of may, will automatically occur in instances of reported speech:he said you might be hurt= il a dit que tu serais peut-être blesséFor more examples see the entry might1 and bear in mind the rules for the agreement of tenses.Where there is a choice between may and might in making requests, might is more formal and even rather dated. French uses inversion (je peux = puis-je?) in this context and puis-je me permettre de…? (= might I…?) is extremely formal.Might can be used to polite effect - to soften direct statements: you might imagine that…or to offer advice tactfully: it might be wise to…In both cases, French uses the conditional tense of the verb: on pourrait penser que… ; ce serait peut-être une bonne idée de… The use of well in phrases such as he might well be right etc. implies a greater degree of likelihood.For translations of might well, may well, see B2 in the entry well1. -
16 distinct
distinct [dɪ'stɪŋkt](a) (different) distinct;∎ to be distinct from se distinguer de;∎ the two poems are quite distinct from each other les deux poèmes sont tout à fait différents l'un de l'autre(c) (decided, evident → accent) prononcé; (→ difference) net, clair; (→ preference) marqué; (→ lack of respect, interest) évident; (→ likeness) clair, net, prononcé; (→ advantage, improvement, impression) net;∎ to make distinct progress progresser nettement;∎ she had a distinct feeling that something would go wrong elle avait le sentiment très net que quelque chose allait mal tourner;∎ I have the distinct impression you're trying to avoid me j'ai la nette impression que tu essaies de m'éviter;∎ there's a distinct smell of smoke in here cela sent vraiment la fumée ici;∎ a distinct possibility une forte possibilité;∎ there is a distinct possibility of rain tomorrow il est fort possible qu'il pleuve demain;∎ it is a distinct possibility (in answer to question) c'est fort possiblepar opposition à -
17 bound
I.bound1 [baʊnd]1. noun( = jump) bond m2. plural noun(gen pass) [+ country] borner[person] bondir• to bound in/away entrer/partir en bondissantII.bound2 [baʊnd]1. verbpast tense, past participle of bind2. adjectivea. attachéb. [book] relié• he's bound to say no ( = sure to) il dira sûrement non• you are not bound to do it ( = obliged) vous n'êtes pas obligé de le faire• where are you bound for? où allez-vous ?* * *[baʊnd] 1. 2.noun bond m3.in a bound, with one bound — d'un bond
bounds plural noun lit, fig limites fplto be out of bounds — [place] être interdit d'accès; Sport être hors du terrain
4.to be within/beyond the bounds of something — fig rester dans/dépasser les limites de quelque chose
1) ( certain)I am bound to say that... — je dois dire que...
3) [book] relié4) ( heading for)bound for — [person, bus, train] en route pour; [aeroplane] à destination de
5) ( connected)5.transitive verb ( border) borner6.bounded by — lit, fig borné par
intransitive verb bondir7.- bound combining form1) ( heading for)2) ( confined)fog-/strike-bound — immobilisé par le brouillard/la grève
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18 can
I.can1 [kæn]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. modal verba.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• can you come tomorrow? pouvez-vous venir demain ?• can I help you? est-ce que je peux vous aider ?• where can he be? où peut-il bien être ?• can he have done it already? est-il possible qu'il l'ait déjà fait ?• he can't be dead! ce n'est pas possible, il n'est pas mort !• you can't be serious! vous ne parlez pas sérieusement !• she can't be very clever if she failed this exam elle ne doit pas être très intelligente si elle a échoué à cet examend. ( = know how to) savoire.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► can used with a verb of perception is not usually translated.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━2. compounds[person, organization] dynamiqueII.can2 [kæn]1. nouna. (for oil, petrol) bidon mb. [of food] boîte f (de conserve)[+ food] mettre en conserve3. compounds* * *I [kæn]1) ( expressing possibility)it could be that... — il se peut que... (+ subj)
could be — (colloq) peut-être
it could be a trap — c'est peut-être un piège, ça pourrait être un piège
I could be wrong — je me trompe peut-être, il se peut que j'aie tort
‘did she know?’ - ‘no, how could she?’ — ‘est-ce qu'elle était au courant?’ - ‘non, comment est-ce qu'elle aurait pu l'être?’
the computer couldn't ou can't have made an error — l'ordinateur n'a pas pu faire d'erreur, il est impossible que l'ordinateur ait fait une erreur
2) ( expressing permission)3) ( when making requests)4) ( when making an offer)what can I do for you? — ( in shop) qu'y a-t-il pour votre service?
5) ( when making suggestions)6) (have skill, knowledge to)7) (have ability, power to)to do all one can — faire tout ce qu'on peut or tout son possible
8) (have ability, using senses, to)9) (indicating capability, tendency)10) (expressing likelihood, assumption)he couldn't be more than 10 years old — ( now) il ne peut pas avoir plus de 10 ans
I couldn't leave the children — ( didn't want to) je ne pouvais pas laisser les enfants; ( wouldn't want to) je ne pourrais pas laisser les enfants
12) ( be in a position to)13) ( expressing a reproach)14) ( expressing surprise)you can't ou cannot be serious! — tu veux rire! (colloq)
15) ( for emphasis)16) ( expressing exasperation)I could murder him! — (colloq) je le tuerais! (colloq)
17) ( expressing obligation)you can get lost! — (colloq) va te faire fiche! (colloq)
18) ( avoiding repetition of verb)‘can we borrow it?’ - ‘you can’ — ‘est-ce que nous pouvons l'emprunter?’ - ‘bien sûr’
‘can anyone give me a lift home?’ - ‘we can’ — ‘est-ce que quelqu'un peut me déposer chez moi?’ - ‘oui, nous’
••as happy/excited as can ou could be — très heureux/excité
II 1. [kæn] 2.no can do — (colloq) non, je ne peux pas
transitive verb (p prés etc - nn-) Culinary mettre [quelque chose] en conserve3.canned past participle adjective1) [food] en boîte2) (colloq) [laughter] enregistré••in the can — (colloq) Cinema ( of film) dans la boîte; ( of negotiations) dans la poche
to carry the can for somebody — (colloq) porter le chapeau à la place de quelqu'un (colloq)
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19 chance
chance [t∫α:ns]1. nouna. ( = luck) hasard m• have you a pen on you by any chance? auriez-vous par hasard un stylo sur vous ?• the chances are that... il y a de grandes chances que... + subj il est très possible que... + subjc. ( = opportunity) occasion f• I had the chance to go or of going j'ai eu l'occasion d'y aller2. adjectiveb. ( = risk) [+ rejection, fine] risquer* * *[tʃɑːns], US [tʃæns] 1.1) ( opportunity) occasion fto have ou get the chance to do — avoir l'occasion de faire
when you get a ou the chance, can you...? — quand tu auras le temps est-ce que tu pourras...?
2) ( likelihood) chance fthe chances are that — il y a de grandes chances que (+ subj)
any chance of a coffee? — (colloq) est-ce que c'est possible d'avoir un café?
3) ( luck) hasard m4) ( risk) risque m5) ( possibility) chance f2. 3.do you have his address by any chance? — auriez-vous, par hasard, son adresse?
transitive verb1) ( risk)to chance one's arm —
2) ( happen to do)•Phrasal Verbs:••no chance! — (colloq) pas question! (colloq)
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20 dismiss
dismiss [dɪsˈmɪs]a. [+ employee] renvoyer ; [+ official] révoquer ; [+ class] congédier ; [+ assembly] dissoudre ; [+ troops] faire rompre les rangs àb. [+ thought, possibility, suggestion] écarter ; [+ request, appeal, claim] rejeter* * *[dɪs'mɪs]transitive verb1) ( reject) écarter [idea, suggestion]; exclure [possibility]2) ( put out of mind) chasser [thought, worry]3) ( sack) licencier [employee, worker]; renvoyer [servant]; révoquer [civil servant]; démettre [quelqu'un] de ses fonctions [director, official]4) ( end interview with) congédier [person]; ( send out) [teacher] laisser sortir [class]5) Law rejeter [appeal]
См. также в других словарях:
Possibility — is the condition or fact of being possible. The Latin origins of the word hint at ability. Possibility also refers to something that could happen , that is not precluded by the facts, but usually not probable. Impossible denotes that something is … Wikipedia
possibility — I noun achievability, anticipation, attainability, availability, chance, conceivability, conceivableness, expectance, expectancy, expectation, facultas, favorable opportunity, favorable prospect, feasibility, gamble, hope, likelihood, opportunity … Law dictionary
Possibility — Pos si*bil i*ty, n.; pl. {Possibilities}. [F. possibilit[ e], L. possibilitas.] 1. The quality or state of being possible; the power of happening, being, or existing. All possibility of error. Hooker. Latent possibilities of excellence. Johnson.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
possibility — late 14c., “condition of being possible,” from O.Fr. possibilité (13c.), from L. possibilitas, from possibilis (see POSSIBLE (Cf. possible)). Meaning “a possible thing or substance” is from c.1400. Related: Possibilities … Etymology dictionary
possibility — [n] feasibility, likelihood; chance achievability, action, attainableness, break, circumstance, contingency, fair shake*, fifty fifty*, fling*, fluke*, fortuity, happening, hazard, hope, incident, instance, liability, likeliness, occasion,… … New thesaurus
possibility — ► NOUN (pl. possibilities) 1) a thing that is possible. 2) the state or fact of being possible. 3) (possibilities) unspecified qualities of a promising nature … English terms dictionary
possibility — [päs΄ə bil′ə tē] n. [ME possibilite < LL possibilitas] 1. the quality or condition of being possible 2. pl. possibilities something that is possible … English World dictionary
possibility */*/*/ — UK [ˌpɒsəˈbɪlətɪ] / US [ˌpɑsəˈbɪlətɪ] noun Word forms possibility : singular possibility plural possibilities Get it right: possibility: The noun possibility is never followed by an infinitive. Use the pattern the/a possibility of doing something … English dictionary
possibility — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ exciting, interesting, intriguing ▪ endless, many ▪ The resort offers endless possibilities for entertainment. ▪ only … Collocations dictionary
possibility — n. 1) to raise a possibility 2) to exclude, rule out a possibility 3) a good, strong; remote, slim possibility 4) a possibility of (there is a strong possibility of snow) 5) a possibility that + clause (there s a strong possibility that the… … Combinatory dictionary
possibility — pos|si|bil|i|ty W2S2 [ˌpɔsıˈbılıti US ˌpa: ] n plural possibilities 1.) [U and C] if there is a possibility that something is true or that something will happen, it might be true or it might happen ▪ There s always a possibility that he might go… … Dictionary of contemporary English