approximation

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd

Proto-Italic *ad

Proto-Italic *ad-

Latin ad-

Latin proximō

Latin approximō

Latin approximātusder.

Middle English approximat

English approximate

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

Proto-Italic *-tiō

Latin -tiō

Latin -ātiōlbor.

Old French -ationbor.

Middle English -acioun

English -ation

English -ion

English approximation

From approximate + -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɒk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, [əˌpɹɒk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃn̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, dialects of Canada) IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɑk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, [əˌpɹɑk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃn̩]

  • Audio (Canada):

    (file)

• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɒk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, [əˌpɹɒk.sɪˈmeɪ.ʃn̩]
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɔk.sɪˈmæɪ.ʃən/, [əˌpɹɔk.sɪˈmæɪ.ʃn̩]
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɒk.səˈmæɪ.ʃən/, [əˌpɹɔ̟k.səˈmæɪ.ʃn̩]
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

approximation (countable and uncountable, plural approximations)

1. (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.

   2. (mathematics) An imprecise solution or result that is adequate for a defined purpose.
   4. (medicine) The act of bringing together the edges of tissue to be sutured.

      Synonym: coaptation

      Coordinate term: imbrication

   6. (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.

Hyponyms

• Born–Oppenheimer approximation
• stationary phase approximation
• Stirling's approximation
• Wien approximation

Derived terms

• approximation algorithm
• approximation error
• approximation problem
• approximation property
• approximation theory
• misapproximation
• overapproximation
• over-approximation
• pseudoapproximation
• reapproximation
• to a first approximation
• underapproximation

Translations

act of approximating

• Armenian: մոտարկում (hy) (motarkum)
• Bulgarian: приближение (približenie)
• Danish: tilnærmelse c
• Dutch: benaderen (nl), schatten (nl)
• Finnish: lähestyminen (fi); arvioiminen (fi), approksimointi
• French: rapprochement (fr) m
• Galician: aproximación (gl) f
• German: Approximieren n
• Greek: προσέγγιση (el) f (proséngisi)
• Hebrew: קֵרוּב (he) m (qerúv)
• Hungarian: közeledés (hu), közelítés (hu), megközelítés (hu), harmonizáció (hu)
• Icelandic: nálgun (is) f
• Indonesian: aproksimasi, penghampiran, pendekatan (id)
• Italian: approssimazione (it) f
• Kazakh: жуықтау (juwıqtaw)
• Malay: penganggaran, penghampiran
• Malayalam: ഏകദേശം (ml) (ēkadēśaṁ)
• Māori: whakaāwhiwhiwhitanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilnærmelse m, tilnærming (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: tilnærming f

• Polish: aproksymacja (pl) f, przybliżanie n
• Portuguese: aproximação (pt) f
• Romanian: aproximare (ro), aproximație (ro) f
• Russian: приближе́ние (ru) n (približénije)
• Spanish: aproximación (es) f
• Tagalog: aproksimasyon

imprecise solution

• Arabic: تَقْرِيب m (taqrīb)
• Armenian: մոտավորություն (hy) (motavorutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: приближение (približenie)
• Czech: přiblížení n
• Dutch: benadering (nl), schatting (nl)
• Finnish: approksimaatio (fi), likiarvo (fi)
• French: approximation (fr) f
• German: Approximation f
• Greek: εκτίμηση (el) f (ektímisi)
• Hungarian: közelítés (hu), közelítő becslés
• Icelandic: nálgun (is) f
• Italian: approssimazione (it) f
• Māori: whakaawhiwhitanga
• Polish: aproksymacja (pl) f, przybliżenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: aproximação (pt) f
• Russian: приближе́ние (ru) n (približénije), аппроксима́ция (ru) f (approksimácija)
• Spanish: aproximación (es) f
• Swedish: närmevärde (sv) n, approximation (sv) c, skattning (sv) c
• Tagalog: dapit

act of bringing together tissues to be sutured

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: aproksymacja (pl) f

See also

• interpolation

Further reading

• approximation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin approximātiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.pʁɔk.si.ma.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

approximation f (plural approximations)

1. approximation; an imprecise solution

Related terms

• approximatif
• approximer

Further reading

• “approximation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012