approximately
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of approximately
First recorded in 1845–50; approximate ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Explanation
Approximately is close to a particular time, measurement, or number — but it's not exact. If you plan to meet a friend at approximately 2:00, it will be okay if you are a bit early or late. Approximately has its roots in the Latin word proximus, meaning "nearly." So, approximately means "about" or "close to." If you tell someone there will be approximately seventy people at a dinner, it means you expect seventy people, though the actual number could be a little more or a little less than seventy.
Vocabulary lists containing approximately
Walk Two Moons
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Ocean Storm Alert!
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STAAR Grade 7 Mathematics: The Language of the Test
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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.
Figures show that women hold approximately 11% of engineering roles in Northern Ireland and make up about 23% of its manufacturing workforce.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Yet, with tech’s relative valuation premium down to approximately 9%, near the lowest level of the past decade, the sector appears to be reflecting at least some of that uncertainty.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Cellular tower near Comanche at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2013, which indicated that Walters was somewhere within approximately 12 miles of the Roebucks’ house just two hours before the break-in.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Campus police had six officers on duty at the event, approximately one-quarter of the full force, and local police weren’t on site, according to court records.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
South of the Potomac was a different matter altogether, since approximately 90 percent of the total black population resided there.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
