Geopotential is the potential of the Earth's gravity field. For convenience it is often defined as minus the potential energy per unit mass, so that the gravity vector is obtained as the gradient of this potential, without the minus.

For geophysical applications, gravity is distinguished from gravitation. Gravity is defined as the resultant of gravitation and the centrifugal force caused by the Earth's rotation. The global mean sea surface is close to one of the equipotential surfaces of the geopotential of gravity . This equipotential surface, or surface of constant geopotential, is called the geoid.