approximation

[ uh-prok-suh-mey-shuhn ]

noun

1. a guess or estimate:

   Ninety-three million miles is an approximation of the distance of the earth from the sun.

2. nearness in space, position, degree, or relation; proximity; closeness.
3. Mathematics, Physics. a result that is not necessarily exact, but is within the limits of accuracy required for a given purpose.

approximation

/ əˌprɒksɪˈmeɪʃən /

noun

1. the process or result of making a rough calculation, estimate, or guess

   he based his conclusion on his own approximation of the fuel consumption

2. an imprecise or unreliable record or version

   an approximation of what really happened

3. maths an inexact number, relationship, or theory that is sufficiently accurate for a specific purpose
4. maths
   1. an estimate of the value of some quantity to a desired degree of accuracy
   2. an expression in simpler terms than a given expression which approximates to it

Other Words From

• ap·proxi·mative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of approximation¹

1400–50; late Middle English approximacioun (< Middle French ) < Medieval Latin approximātiōn-, stem of approximātiō. See approximate, -ion

Example Sentences

“I make art to try to understand things that I don’t yet understand fully, and the grief that I felt from significant breakups is my closest approximation of that,” Green says.

From Los Angeles Times

Auberjonois gives a rough approximation of Rivers’ New York accent but can’t master her comic timing.

From Los Angeles Times

What will today's Ivy League alums, caught now in what Yale Law School professor Daniel Markovits dubs "The Meritocracy Trap," decide about Americans' submission to our own approximation of what Harvard political theorist and classicist Danielle Allen describes as "The Road to Serfdom" — the casino-like financing, the vicious political demagoguery and the caste-like inequities that Trump, a corrupt Supreme Court and a paralyzed Congress have all but normalized?

From Salon

“The ways in which they approach reasoning are an approximation and not the real thing. And none of this is going away until we have some new technology.”

From Los Angeles Times

This live approximation of a vinyl record that catches on loop goes on for a few more minutes, the actors getting slightly louder and a tinge more testy as they continue the repetition.

From Los Angeles Times