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Formation: V-ます stem + かねない; する→しかねない; polite かねません

〜かねない says there is a real risk that something bad could happen. It carries the speaker's worry or disapproval, and it is used only for undesirable outcomes, never for good ones. It often describes where a situation is heading (大事故につながりかねない) or what kind of thing a person is capable of doing (彼なら言いかねない). It is somewhat formal and common in writing and serious speech. Although it looks like the negative of 〜かねる ('cannot'), it means the opposite: 'quite possibly will'. Compared with 〜恐れがある, which sounds more objective and is preferred in news, official warnings and forecasts, かねない sounds more like the speaker's own judgement. 〜得る states neutral possibility with no sense of danger.

Variants: しかねない、かねません

Examples

• このまま放置すれば、大事故につながりかねない。
  Left as it is, this could well lead to a serious accident.
• 彼なら、そんな無責任なことも言いかねない。
  He's just the type who might say something that irresponsible.
• 睡眠不足が続くと、体調を崩しかねない。
  If you keep missing sleep, you could easily make yourself ill.

In real texts 0 occurrence(s)

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