approximation
English Edit
Etymology Edit
approximate + -ion
Pronunciation Edit
- Rhymes: -eɪʃən
- (UK) IPA(key): /əˌpɹɒksɪˈmeɪʃn/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (US) IPA(key): /əˌpɹɑksɪˈmeɪʃn/
Noun Edit
approximation (countable and uncountable, plural approximations)
- (uncountable, countable) The act, process or result of approximating, as:
- 2018, Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body, Faber & Faber (2020), page 5:
- At the back of the cupboard, you find your interview skirt, the one you bought when you had cash to purchase an approximation of the fashion spreads you mulled over in magazines.
- (mathematics) An imprecise solution or result that is adequate for a defined purpose.
- (medicine) The act of bringing together the edges of tissue to be sutured.
- Synonym: coaptation
- (linguistics) The act of producing a near-simulation of the pronunciation of a foreign language for a loanword therefrom, or any given pronunciation resulting from that act.
- Hyponym: (misplaced attempt at approximation) hyperforeignism
- For some loanwords borrowed from French into English, the standard English pronunciation is an approximation of the French, as with denoument.
Derived terms Edit
Translations Edit
act of approximating
|
imprecise solution
|
act of bringing together tissues to be sutured
See also Edit
French Edit
Etymology Edit
Borrowed from Latin approximātiōnem.
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
approximation f (plural approximations)
- approximation; an imprecise solution
Further reading Edit
- “approximation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.