different between path vs approach

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English path, peth, from Old English pæþ (“path, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *paþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz (“path”) (compare West Frisian paad, Dutch pad, German Pfad), Ancient Greek ????? (paté?) / ????? (pátos), from Iranian (compare Avestan ????????????????????? (panta, “way”), ????????????????? (pa?a, genitive), Old Persian [script needed] (pathi-)), from Proto-Iranian *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs (compare Sanskrit ????? (páthin)), from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh?s, from *pent- (“path”) (compare English find). Doublet of panth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [p????]
  • (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): [p?ä??], [p????]
• IPA^(key): /pæ?/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): [p?æ?], [p????], [p?e??]
  • (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): [p?a?], [p?æ?]
• Rhymes: -???, -æ?

Noun

path (plural paths)

1. A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.
2. A course taken.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.

3. (paganism) A Pagan tradition, for example witchcraft, Wicca, druidism, Heathenry.
4. A metaphorical course.
5. A method or direction of proceeding.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

6. (computing) A human-readable specification for a location within a hierarchical or tree-like structure, such as a file system or as part of a URL.

7. (graph theory) A sequence of vertices from one vertex to another using the arcs (edges). A path does not visit the same vertex more than once (unless it is a closed path, where only the first and the last vertex are the same).
8. (topology) A continuous map ${\displaystyle f}$ from the unit interval ${\displaystyle I=[0,1]}$ to a topological space ${\displaystyle X}$.
9. (rail transport) A slot available for allocation to a railway train over a given route in between other trains.

Synonyms

• (1): track, trail; see also Thesaurus:way

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

path (third-person singular simple present paths, present participle pathing, simple past and past participle pathed)

1. (transitive) To make a path in, or on (something), or for (someone).
   • 1597, Michael Drayton, England's Heroical Epistles

     pathing young Henry's unadvised ways

Etymology 2

Shortening.

Noun

path (uncountable)

1. (medicine, abbreviation) Pathology.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision; June 2005]
• “path”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• Ptah, phat

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English pæþ, from Proto-Germanic *paþaz, from an Iranian language, from Proto-Iranian *pántaHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pántaHs.

Alternative forms

• paþ, peth, paþþe, paaþ, pathe, paththe, pað, paath

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa?/, /pa??/, /p??/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

path (plural pathes)

1. An informal or unpaved path or trail; a track.
2. A choice or way of living; a doctrine.
3. (rare, Late Middle English) A course or route.
4. (rare, Late Middle English) A vessel or vein.

Related terms

• pathen
• pathyng

Descendants

• English: path
• Scots: paith

References

• “p??th, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-08.

Etymology 2

From path (noun).

Verb

path

1. Alternative form of pathen

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p???t??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??p?o?t??/
• Rhymes: -??t?
• Hyphenation: ap?proach

Etymology 1

From Middle English approchen, aprochen (“to come or go near, approach; to adjoin, be close by; to enter (someone’s) presence; to be or become involved; to reach (a certain state); to arrive; to befall, happen to; to become similar to, resemble; to be a match for (someone)”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French approchier, aprochier (“to approach”) (modern French approcher), from Late Latin appropi?re, adpropi?re, respectively the present active infinitives of appropi? and adpropi? (“to approach, come near to”), from Latin ad- (prefix meaning ‘to’) + propi? (“to draw near”) (from prope (“near, nearby”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (a variant of *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-k?e (“suffix forming distributives from interrogatives”)).

Verb

approach (third-person singular simple present approaches, present participle approaching, simple past and past participle approached)

1. (intransitive) To come or go near, in place or time; to advance nearer; to draw nigh.
2. (intransitive, golf, tennis) To play an approach shot.
3. (transitive, intransitive, figuratively) Used intransitively, followed by to: to draw near (to someone or something); to make advances; to approximate or become almost equal.
4. (transitive, rarely intransitive) Of an immovable object or a number of such objects: to be positioned as to (notionally) appear to be moving towards (a place).
5. (transitive, also figuratively) To come near to (someone or something) in place, time, character, or value; to draw nearer to.
6. (transitive) To bring (something) near something else; to cause (something) to draw near.
7. (transitive) To attempt to make (a policy) or solve (a problem).
8. (transitive) To bring up or propose to (someone) an idea, question, request, etc.
9. (transitive, archaic, euphemistic) To have sexual intercourse with (someone).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulate
10. (transitive, military) To take approaches to (a place); to move towards (a place) by using covered roads, trenches, or other works.

Usage notes

Regarding the use of sense 5 (“to come near to (someone or something) in place, time, character, or value”) in discussing convergence in mathematical analysis, modern rigorous formulations avoid using the words approach and converge. However, the terms are used informally when rigour is not required.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English approche (“approach, arrival”), from approchen, aprochen (“to come or go near, approach; to adjoin, be close by; to enter (someone’s) presence; to be or become involved; to reach (a certain state); to arrive; to befall, happen to; to become similar to, resemble; to be a match for (someone)”); see etymology 1.

Noun

approach (plural approaches)

1. (also figuratively) An act of drawing near in place or time; an advancing or coming near.
2. An act of coming near in character or value; an approximation.
3. (also figuratively) An avenue, passage, or way by which a building or place can be approached; an access.
   1. (climbing) A path taken to reach the climbing area, for example, from a car park, road, etc.
4. (figuratively) A manner of making (a policy) or solving (a problem, etc.).
5. (archaic) An opportunity of drawing near; access.
6. (aviation, also attributively) The way an aircraft comes in to land at an airport.
7. (bowling) The area before the lane in which a bowler may stand or run up before bowling the ball.
8. (golf, tennis) Short for approach shot.

Hyponyms

(aviation):

• instrument approach
• nonprecision approach
• precision approach
• visual approach

Derived terms

• approach shoe

Translations

References

Further reading

• approach (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• approach in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Portuguese

Noun

approach m (plural approaches)

1. approach (a manner in which a problem is solved or policy is made)

   Synonym: abordagem