approximately
/əˈpɹɑk.sɪ.mət.li/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.64 in modern English
29
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
5
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
Imprecise but close to in quantity or amount.
Example Sentences
- "approximately 60 beats per minute"
- "In every box of matches there are approximately 40 matchsticks."
- "Per 100 g of chocolate there is approximately 11.6 g of saturated fat."
- "Returning to our own epistemic situation, we do not know the sense in which quantum mechanics and relativity will be taken to be approximately true after their descriptive infelicities are addressed."
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 *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English approximately From approximate + -ly.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈpɹɑk.sɪ.mət.li/
- British English: /əˈpɹɒk.sɪ.mət.li/
Inflected Forms
approx. (alternative)