approximate

• approx. (abbreviation, also for adverb approximately)

From Middle English approximat(e) (“close, near (to); similar; intimate”, also used as the past participle of approximaten), from Latin approximātus, the perfect passive participle of approximō (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), further from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + proximō (“to come near”). The nouns was derived from the adjective through substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). See also proximate.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈpɹɒk.sɪ.mət/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈpɹɑk.sə.mət/, /əˈpɹɑk.sɪ.mət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

approximate (comparative more approximate, superlative most approximate)

1. Approaching; proximate; nearly resembling.
2. Nearing correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate.

   Near-synonym: crude

   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.

3. (botany) Drawn close together, but not united.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• close

• exact, precise

approximate (plural approximates)

1. (rare) An approximate result or quantity.

From Middle English approximaten (“to bring, put close (to)”), from approximat(e) (“close, near (to); similar; intimate”, also used as the past participle of approximaten) +‎ -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin approximātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈpɹɒk.sɪ.meɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈpɹɑk.sə.meɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

approximate (third-person singular simple present approximates, present participle approximating, simple past and past participle approximated)

1. (ambitransitive) 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.

2. (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.

3. (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 Dodsley, , →OCLC:

     to approximate the inequality of riches to the level of nature

approximāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of approximō