approximate
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- approx. (abbreviation, also for adverb approximately)
Etymology edit
From Latin approximatus, past participle of approximare (“to approach”); ad + proximare (“to come near”). See proximate.
Pronunciation edit
- Adjective
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ə.ˈpɹɒk.sɪ.mət/
- (US) IPA(key): /ə.ˈpɹɑk.sə.mət/, /ə.ˈpɹɑk.sɪ.mət/
Audio (US) (file)
- Verb
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ə.ˈpɹɒk.sɪ.meɪt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ə.ˈpɹɑk.sə.meɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Adjective edit
approximate (comparative more approximate, superlative most approximate)
- Approaching; proximate; nearly resembling.
- Nearing correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate.
- approximate results or values
- NASA's Genesis spacecraft has on board an ion monitor to record the speed, density, temperature and approximate composition of the solar wind ions.
Synonyms edit
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
approaching; proximate; nearly resembling
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near correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate;
Verb edit
approximate (third-person singular simple present approximates, present participle approximating, simple past and past participle approximated)
- (transitive, intransitive) To estimate.
- I approximated the value of pi by taking 22 divided by 7.
- 2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22:
- As yet, we don't know what the comparable figures will be like for the current financial year which ends in March 2022, but we can have a good stab at approximating them.
- (transitive) To come near to; to approach.
- 1911, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax:
- When you follow two separate chains of thought, Watson, you will find some point of intersection which should approximate to the truth.
- 1802, Jedidiah Morse, The American Universal Geography:
- The telescope approximates perfection.
- (transitive) To carry or advance near; to cause to approach.
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
- to approximate the inequality of riches to the level of nature
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to carry or advance near; to cause to approach
to come near to; to approach
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to estimate
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Latin edit
Verb edit
approximāte