The AI-powered English dictionary
comparative more approximate, superlative most approximate
Approaching; proximate; nearly resembling. examples
Nearing correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate. examples
third-person singular simple present approximates, present participle approximating, simple past and past participle approximated
(transitive, intransitive) To estimate. quotations examples
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.
2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22
(transitive) To come near to; to approach. quotations examples
When you follow two separate chains of thought, Watson, you will find some point of intersection which should approximate to the truth.
1911, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
The telescope approximates perfection.
1802, Jedidiah Morse, The American Universal Geography
(transitive) To carry or advance near; to cause to approach. quotations examples
to approximate the inequality of riches to the level of nature
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, […]