Word.ws English Dictionary

to a first approximation

to a first approximation prepositional phrase: used to indicate that a statement, though not necessarily entirely accurate or without exceptions, is good enough for basic or preliminary purposes; more or less; basically.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Used to indicate that a statement, though not necessarily entirely accurate or without exceptions, is good enough for basic or preliminary purposes; more or less; basically.

Origin of to a first approximation

Originally from the scientific concept of order of approximation.

Words that rhyme with to a first approximation

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about to a first approximation

What does to a first approximation mean?
To a first approximation means used to indicate that a statement, though not necessarily entirely accurate or without exceptions, is good enough for basic or preliminary purposes; more or less; basically.
What part of speech is to a first approximation?
To a first approximation is a prepositional phrase.

Words near to a first approximation in the dictionary

  1. to a fare you well
  2. to a fare-thee-well
  3. to a fare-you-well
  4. to a fault
  5. to a fine fare-thee-well
  6. to a first approximation
  7. to a great extent
  8. to a greater extent
  9. to a hair
  10. to a hammer, everything looks like a nail
  11. to a large extent

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: to a first approximation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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