Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use approximate in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Approximate means approaching; proximate; nearly resembling. Example: “NASA’s Genesis spacecraft has on board an ion monitor to record the speed, density, temperature and approximate composition of the solar wind ions.”

Examples of approximate by meaning

adjectiveNearing correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate.

  • approximate results or values
  • NASA’s Genesis spacecraft has on board an ion monitor to record the speed, density, temperature and approximate composition of the solar wind ions.

verbTo estimate.

  • I approximated the value of pi by taking 22 divided by 7.
  • As yet, we don't know what the comparable figures will be like for the current financial year which ends in March 2022, but we can have a good stab at approximating them.2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22

verbTo come near to; to approach.

  • When you follow two separate chains of thought, Watson, you will find some point of intersection which should approximate to the truth.1911, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

More sentences with approximate

  • Implement a program that computes the approximate grade level needed to comprehend some text, per the below.From the entry per
  • The genera by which two families approximate are called osculant genera.From the entry osculant
  • One rule of thumb is that the width of an adult thumb can approximate a length of one inch.From the entry inch
  • The key task of approximating with granules is seeking for the tightest envelope for the approximand.2012, Moamar Sayed-Mouchaweh, Edwin Lughofer, Learning in Non-Stationary Environments: Methods and Applications, page 275. From the entry approximand
  • Erol Alkan, who has stitched these myriad influences into something approximating seamlessness.2009 January 12, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times. From the entry seamlessness
  • This section gives insight into simple method of approximating the fractional Laplace operator.2008, Shantanu Das, Functional Fractional Calculus for System Identification and Controls, Springer, page 153. From the entry Laplace operator
  • Figure 26 shows the approximate amount of refrigeration needed for an uninsulated hydrocooler, installed outside.2008, James F. Thompson, F. Gordon Mitchell, Tom R. Rumsay, Commercial Cooling of Fruits, Vegetables, and Flowers, →ISBN, page 22. From the entry hydrocooler
  • Half arrowheads are indicative of difference and are used in a zygonic context to show approximate imitation.2006, Neil Lerner, Joseph Straus, Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music, page 143. From the entry zygonic
  • This circuit generates a bipolar pulse waveform that closely approximates the main features of sferics.1999, Rudolf F. Graf, William Sheets, The Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits. From the entry sferics
  • Peoples Temple and the Branch Davidians both approximated the 'apocalyptic sect' as an ideal type.1995, Stuart A. Wright, Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict, University Of Chicago Press, →ISBN…. From the entry sect
  • In these charts, approximate sizes have been given tor trees, shrubs, climbers and wallplants.1988, Graham Rose, “Romantic Plant Charts”, in The Romantic Garden: A Guide to Creating a Beautiful and Private Garden Paradise, New York…. From the entry wallplant
  • Times are approximate but using a yogurt-maker gives the sourest yogurt and a thermos the sweetest.1984, Miranda Hall, Feeding Your Children: A Complete Guide to Healthy Eating for Pregnancy, Babies, Toddlers and Children up to 11…. From the entry yogurt-maker
  • A punch test approximating pure shear loading was selected to measure this property.1956, Army Medical Service, “Oral Disease. RDB Project Card Continuation Sheet.”, in Consolidated R&D Annual Project Report, United States…. From the entry carvability
  • The field of kinesics is divided methodologically in a manner approximating the prevalent usage in linguistics.1952, Ray L. Birdwhistell, “Preface”, in Introduction to Kinesics: An Annotation System for Analysis of Body Motion and Gesture…. From the entry kinesics
  • But by drawing lines known as isoflors we may approximate the positions of Eocene isotherms.1940, Ralph W. Chaney, “Bearing of Forests on the Theory of Continental Drift”, in The Scientific Monthly, volume 51, number 6, pages…. From the entry isoflor
  • "In the latter case, he may well approximate to what the vulgar have called the 'missing link'."1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry missing link
  • Since this is again hard to realize analytically, one usually approximates the integral via sampling from the posterior.2021, Nils Thuerey, Philipp Holl, Maximilian Mueller, Patrick Schnell, Felix Trost, Kiwon Um, chapter 25, in Physics-based Deep Learning…. From the entry marginalize
  • Until now, they’ve only found approximate answers.2020 December 27, Steve Nadis, “After Centuries, a Simple Math Problem Gets an Exact Solution”, in Wired. From the entry deceptively
  • In the second approach we try to find good subdivision points in an approximating overcone that is faster to compute..2016, Winfried Bruns, Richard Sieg, Christof Söger, “The subdivision of large simplicial cones in Normaliz”, in arXiv. From the entry overcone
  • Rather, only war games were able to approximate exactly the situation that was to be avoided at all costs.2012, Philipp Von Hilgers, War Games: A History of War on Paper, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 65. From the entry war game
  • As mentioned before, modern geodetic datums rely on the surfaces of geocentric ellipsoids to approximate the surface of the earth.2010, Jan Van Sickle, Basic GIS Coordinates, 2nd edition, page 73. From the entry ellipsoid
  • One expert in the US approximated that 60-90 per cent of all visits to the doctor were stress related.2008, Tony Crabbe, Busy, Preface, at page xi. From the entry karoshi
  • When r increases to 1, Figures 2 shows that the H¹ norm of approximate solution oscillatorily grows up.2002, Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems: Series B., Volume 2. From the entry oscillatorily
  • Well I don't have the actual TE curve on me here (it's at home) but I can approximate.1999 June 16, Hoppy, “Re: HST from Paddington”, in uk.railway (Usenet). From the entry 125
  • I will not even attempt to approximate the horrificity of the death's description; I could not do it anything resembling justice.1998 June 6, Amzug [pseudonym], “The Music of Falling To Sleep With a Drippy Nose **SUGAR**”, in rec.arts.poems (Usenet), archived from…. From the entry horrificity
  • For example, Montana talcs approximate the theoretical composition, while California talcs often contain calcite (CaCO₃) and dolomite (CaCO₃ • MgCO₃).1987, Joseph A. Radosta with Nikhil C. Trivedi, “Talc”, in H. S. Katz, J. V. Mileski, editors, Handbook of Fillers For Plastics, page 217. From the entry talc
  • Approximate scales can be placed on near-field objects in pictures containing the gnomon by using an ellipse template.1981, R. M. Batson, V. S. Reed, R. L. Tyner, “Cartographic Procedures”, in George E. Ulrich, Carroll Ann Hodges, and William R[udolf]…. From the entry gnomon
  • The usual procedure for deriving finite-difference equations consists of approximating the derivatives in the differential equation via a truncated Taylor series.1980, Suhas Patankar, Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Taylor & Francis (CRC Press), page 28. From the entry Taylor series
  • However, the approximate locations of the Hayashi limits point to remarkably low masses for the three T Tauri stars investigated here.1977, Rudolf Kippenhahn, Walter Strohmeyer, The Interaction of Variable Stars with Their Environment, Remeis-Sternwarte, page 69. From the entry Hayashi limit
  • Geology dictates the approximate location of the tunnel.1961 December, “The Channel Tunnel—a realistic proposal”, in Trains Illustrated, page 723. From the entry dictate
  • These curves represent approximate insertion conditions for lunar impact trajectories designed to intersect the center of the moon (dead-center hit).1961, NASA Technical Report, page 7. From the entry dead-center
  • There is a loop line and a siding, and a groundframe can be seen on the approximate site of the signalbox.1953 April, Colin G. Maggs, “The Hallatrow-Limpley Stoke Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 269. From the entry groundframe
  • It seems that in general the more nearly a theory approximates incontrovertibility, the more nearly does it approximate triviality.1941, A. H. Copeland, “Fundamental Concepts of the Theory of Probability”, in The American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 48, no. 8, part 1…. From the entry incontrovertibility
  • The mathematician says that if one will write $36 and add 59 ciphers to it he will have the approximate answer.1925 April 6, “Idle Money”, in The Miami Herald, volume 15, number 133, Miami, Fla.: The Miami Herald Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page…. From the entry undevigintillion
  • Using fluorescent beads of subresolution size (TransFluorSpheres 0.1 μm, Molecular Probes) the point spread function (PSF) can be approximated and the images might be deconvolved.2016 January 6, “Nanoscale Imaging Reveals a Tetraspanin-CD9 Coordinated Elevation of Endothelial ICAM-1 Clusters”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry subresolution

Meaning of approximate

  1. adjective Approaching; proximate; nearly resembling.
  2. adjective Nearing correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate.
  3. adjective Drawn close together, but not united.

Full definition of approximate

Questions about approximate in a sentence

How do you use approximate in a sentence?
Approximate is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “NASA’s Genesis spacecraft has on board an ion monitor to record the speed, density, temperature and approximate composition of the solar wind ions.”
What is a short sentence with approximate?
“approximate results or values”
What does approximate mean?
Approximate means approaching; proximate; nearly resembling.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: approximate (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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