Approximateness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being roughly correct or nearly accurate without being precise in every detail
2. The degree to which something is close to a true or exact value without fully matching it
3. Being near to an exact measure or description while still allowing for some margin of error

Etymology: "Approximateness" is a plain formation: the adjective "approximate" with the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. "Approximate" itself comes from the Late Latin "approximatus," the past participle of "approximare," meaning "to come near to," built from the prefix "ad-" ("to") and "proximare," from "proximus" ("nearest"). So the word's core idea is closeness: something approximate is one that has drawn near to the exact value without reaching it. Adding "-ness" to "approximate" produces a noun for the condition of being roughly correct or nearly exact. The suffix is an old and productive English one, native since Old English, and it attaches freely to adjectives, so "approximateness" is the kind of word that can be coined wherever a writer needs to speak about degrees of accuracy. It is a transparent, unremarkable formation, and its meaning follows directly from its parts.

Synonyms: closeness, approximation

Antonyms: exactness, precision