approximate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English approximat,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin approximātus (“drawn near”), the past participle of approximō (“to come near to”),^[3][4][5][6] which Tertullian used.^[5][7] The Latin verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and proximō (“to come near”), from proximus (“nearest”),^[3][4][6] the superlative of prope (“near”).^[4][6][8] The verb was formed from the adjective, or directly from the Latin participle stem.^[5][9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Close, similar: before about 1425, in a Middle English translation of Chauliac, and about 1450 in Capgrave.^[2] Barnhart dates both the adjective and the verb to probably before 1425,^[6] and the Shorter Oxford records a late Middle English sense "brought or placed close".^[7]

Semantic evolution

The OED's evidence for the adjective "very near in position or character" begins only in 1646, with Sir T. Browne,^[5] and Johnson (1755) still defined it as "near to", quoting Browne.^[10] The modern sense, "nearly but not quite exact", is recorded from 1816;^[5][4][9] the Oxford Dictionary of English dates it to the early 19th century.^[11] The verb first meant to bring close (1671, though Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to the 15th century),^[5][4][12] and then to come close in position, quality or accuracy in 1771, or in 1789 according to Etymonline.^[5][4] The transitive "to come close to" followed in 1793.^[5] In medicine it also means to bring the cut edges of tissue together.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – adjective, close, similar.^[2][6]
• 1646 – very near in position or character.^[5]
• 1671 – verb, to bring close.^[5]
• 1771 – verb, to come close (to).^[5]
• 1784 – noun, an approximate result (rare).^[5]
• 1793 – verb, to come close to.^[5]
• 1816 – nearly correct or exact.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Close to the actual value but not completely accurate or exact: The approximate cost of the repairs is two thousand pounds.^[13][12][5]
2. Very similar; nearly the same.^[13][12]
3. (botany, zoology) Set close together.^[12][5]

Verb

1. To come close to something in quality, amount or nature; to approach: The new recipe approximates the taste of the original.^[13][12][5]
2. To estimate or calculate something roughly.^[13][12]
3. (mathematics) To find a value or expression that is close enough to a given quantity.^[13]
4. To bring something near or close, as the edges of a wound in surgery.^[12][5]

Word family

• approximately
• approximation

Related words

• proximate
• proximity
• approach
• propinquity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins