approximately

adverb

ap·​prox·​i·​mate·​ly ə-ˈpräk-sə-mət-lē 

: in an approximate manner

an event in ancient history that can only be approximately dated

—used to indicate that a stated number, amount, or value is an approximation

Approximately [=around, about] 2,000 people attended the rally.

arrived at approximately 11:30 in the morning

During a lifetime, a person will take approximately 500 million breaths.

—Arthur S. Slutsky, M.D., et al.

Synonyms

• roughly
• about
• around

Examples of approximately in a Sentence

it takes approximately three hours to drive to Dallas

Recent Examples on the Web

The approximately 6″ tall Black man was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, with a white t-shirt underneath, and black sweatpants, but may have removed his outer t-shirt, a source said. —Kerry Burke, New York Daily News, 22 Aug. 2025

The filing follows years of financial and technical difficulties for the biogas developer which has seen operating losses of approximately $1 million per month, court records showed. —Rick Barrett, jsonline.com, 22 Aug. 2025

This will require Arizona to forfeit 512,000 acre-feet—approximately 18 percent of its annual allocation. —Joe Edwards, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Aug. 2025

Its brief but dramatic descent was captured on several surveillance cameras and dashcams located in the western cities of Kagoshima and Kumamoto and was even spotted as far east as Osaka's Kansai Airport, located approximately 124 miles (200 kilometers) away. —Anthony Wood, Space.com, 20 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1742, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for approximately

• proximately

Kids Definition

approximately

adverb

ap·​prox·​i·​mate·​ly

-mət-lē

: reasonably close to

approximately 5 miles

at approximately six o'clock