approximately

«approximately» in Mova's school dictionary: Close to an exact amount, number or time, but not… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adverb

meaning for a pupil

Close to an exact amount, number or time, but not exactly; about. tree →

sense in the lessons

A key maths word: "approximately" means estimate or round. "Approximately 30 children" could be 28 or 31. The sign ≈ means "is approximately equal to". In science, measurements are often approximate. Phrases: approximately equal, approximately how many.

examples

• There were approximately 200 people at the concert. tree →
• The journey takes approximately two hours. tree →
• 49 + 52 is approximately 100. tree →
• Round 3.87 to approximately 4. tree →
• The bag weighs approximately 5 kilograms. tree →
• Approximately half the class walk to school. tree →
• Estimate approximately how many beans are in the jar. tree →

note

Adjective: approximate. Shorter: about, roughly, around, nearly. Maths: an approximate answer is rounded, so do not give lots of decimals; the sign is ≈. "Approximately" does not tell you whether the real number is higher or lower.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «approximately» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.