approximation

approximate +‎ -ion

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

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˌpɹɑksɪˈmeɪʃn/

approximation (countable and uncountable, plural approximations)

1. The act, process or result of approximating.
   • 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.
3. (medicine) The act of bringing together the edges of tissue to be sutured.

   Synonym: coaptation

• interpolation

Borrowed from Latin approximationem.

• IPA^(key): /a.pʁɔk.si.ma.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

approximation f (plural approximations)

1. approximation; an imprecise solution

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