Approach

How to spell approach

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce approach

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does approach mean?

1. verbTo come nearer to someone or something in space, time, or degree.
2. nounA particular way of dealing with a task, problem, or situation.

Approach in a sentence

• verb

  Drivers should approach the junction slowly in icy weather.

• noun

  Their cautious approach to spending kept the company solvent.

• verb

  We watched the heavy clouds approach from the west.

• noun

  The manager tried a fresh approach to staff training this year.

Where does approach come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word travels back to the Late Latin appropiare, meaning 'to come near to', which was formed from the prefix ad- 'to, toward' and the adjective prope 'near'. That Latin verb passed into Old French as aprochier, and English borrowed it in the 1300s, originally with the literal sense of physically drawing closer to a place or person. Over time the meaning broadened to cover drawing near in time, in quantity, and in resemblance, and by the 1600s 'approach' had also become a noun for the manner or method by which one tackles something. The same prope 'near' root survives in 'proximity' and 'propinquity', words that still carry the idea of nearness. The spelling trap is the doubled p, inherited straight from the Latin ad- prefix assimilating before the p of propiare.

How the word is built

• ap- (to, toward; from Latin ad-)
• -proach (from Late Latin propiare 'to come near', from prope 'near')