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approximant

American  
[uh-prok-suh-muhnt] / əˈprɒk sə mənt /

noun

Phonetics.

  1. an articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but not sufficiently so to form a stop or a fricative.

  2. a sound characterized by such an articulation, as (w), (y), (r), (l), or a vowel.

Etymology

Origin of approximant

approxim(ate) + -ant

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For example, they took “zog,” the Albanian word for bird, and subbed in the approximant “y” to make “yog” or the affricative “ts” to make “tsog.”

From Scientific American • Dec. 6, 2022

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.