Approximates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Comes near to a particular measurement or value without being exact
2. Gets close to or nearly reaches a specified numerical amount or degree
3. Approaches a target value or quantity with some degree of closeness

Etymology: The verb "approximate" grew out of an adjective. Latin "approximare" combined "ad-" ("to, towards") with "proximare" ("to come near"), from "proximus", meaning "nearest." Its past participle, "approximatus," gave English an adjective meaning "close, near (to)," and that adjective was in use in Middle English before the verb existed. Only later did English turn it back into a verb, "to bring or put close," which is where the modern sense of drawing near a value or quantity comes from. The noun has a different route: it was made from the adjective by substantivization, so the adjective came first, then the noun, and the verb was formed from the adjective as well. Because "proximus" is also the source of "proximate," the two words are close relatives that took different paths into English.

Synonyms: approaches, nears, resembles

Antonyms: differs, deviates