approximation

English

Etymology

approximate +‎ -ion

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɒksɪˈmeɪʃn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɑksɪˈmeɪʃn/

Noun

approximation (countable and uncountable, plural approximations)

1. (uncountable, countable) The act, process or result of approximating, as:
   • 2018, Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body, Faber & Faber (2020), page 5:

     At the back of the cupboard, you find your interview skirt, the one you bought when you had cash to purchase an approximation of the fashion spreads you mulled over in magazines.

   2. (mathematics) An imprecise solution or result that is adequate for a defined purpose.
   4. (medicine) The act of bringing together the edges of tissue to be sutured.

      Synonym: coaptation

   6. (linguistics) The act of producing a near-simulation of the pronunciation of a foreign language for a loanword therefrom, or any given pronunciation resulting from that act.

      Hyponym: (misplaced attempt at approximation) hyperforeignism

      For some loanwords borrowed from French into English, the standard English pronunciation is an approximation of the French, as with denoument.

Derived terms

• approximation algorithm
• approximation problem
• approximation property
• approximation theory
• over-approximation
• overapproximation
• stationary phase approximation
• Stirling's approximation
• to a first approximation
• underapproximation
• Wien approximation

 

Translations

act of approximating

• Bulgarian: приближение (približenie)
• Danish: tilnærmelse c
• Dutch: benaderen (nl), schatten (nl)
• Finnish: lähestyminen (fi); arvioiminen (fi), approksimointi
• French: rapprochement (fr) m
• Galician: aproximación (gl) f
• German: Approximieren n
• Greek: προσέγγιση (el) f (proséngisi)
• Hebrew: קֵרוּב (he) m (qerúv)
• Hungarian: közeledés (hu), közelítés (hu), megközelítés (hu), harmonizáció (hu)
• Icelandic: nálgun f
• Indonesian: aproksimasi, penghampiran, pendekatan (id)
• Italian: approssimazione (it) f
• Malay: penganggaran
• Malayalam: ഏകദേശം (ml) (ēkadēśaṁ)
• Maori: whakaāwhiwhiwhitanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilnærmelse m, tilnærming (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: tilnærming f

• Polish: aproksymacja f
• Portuguese: aproximação (pt) f
• Romanian: aproximare (ro), aproximație (ro) f
• Russian: приближе́ние (ru) n (približénije)
• Spanish: aproximación (es) f

imprecise solution

• Arabic: تَقْرِيب m (taqrīb)
• Armenian: մոտավորություն (hy) (motavorutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: приближение (približenie)
• Czech: přiblížení n
• Dutch: benadering (nl), schatting (nl)
• Finnish: approksimaatio (fi), likiarvo (fi)
• French: approximation (fr) f
• German: Approximation f
• Greek: εκτίμηση (el) f (ektímisi)
• Hungarian: közelítés (hu), közelítő becslés
• Icelandic: nálgun f
• Italian: approssimazione (it) f
• Polish: aproksymacja f
• Portuguese: aproximação (pt) f
• Russian: приближе́ние (ru) n (približénije), аппроксима́ция (ru) f (approksimácija)
• Spanish: aproximación (es) f
• Swedish: närmevärde (sv) n, approximation (sv) c, skattning (sv) c
• Tagalog: dapit

act of bringing together tissues to be sutured

See also

• interpolation

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin approximātiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.pʁɔk.si.ma.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

approximation f (plural approximations)

1. approximation; an imprecise solution

Further reading

• “approximation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.