different between uncertain vs approximate

English

Etymology

un- +? certain

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?s??t?n/
• Rhymes: -??(r)t?n

Adjective

uncertain (comparative more uncertain, superlative most uncertain)

1. Not certain; unsure.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Man, without the protection of a superior Being, […] is […] uncertain of everything that he hopes for.

2. Not known for certain; questionable.

3. Not yet determined; undecided.
4. Variable and subject to change.
5. Fitful or unsteady.

   • Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

6. Unpredictable or capricious.

Antonyms

• certain

Related terms

• uncertainly, uncertainty

Translations

Noun

uncertain pl (plural only)

1. (with "the") Something uncertain.

Anagrams

• N Centauri, centaurin, encurtain, runcinate

English

Alternative forms

• approx. (abbreviation, also for adverb approximately)

Etymology

From Latin approximatus, past participle of approximare (“to approach”); ad + proximare (“to come near”). See proximate.

Pronunciation

Adjective

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?.?p??k.s?.m?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?.?p??k.s?.m?t/, /?.?p??k.s?.m?t/

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?.?p??k.s?.me?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?.?p??k.s?.me?t/

Adjective

approximate (comparative more approximate, superlative most approximate)

1. Approaching; proximate; nearly resembling.
2. Nearing correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate.

   approximate results or values

   NASA's Genesis spacecraft has on board an ion monitor to record the speed, density, temperature and approximate composition of the solar wind ions.

Synonyms

• close

Antonyms

• exact, precise

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

approximate (third-person singular simple present approximates, present participle approximating, simple past and past participle approximated)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To estimate.

   I approximated the value of pi by taking 22 divided by 7.

2. (transitive) To come near to; to approach.
   • 1911, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

     When you follow two separate chains of thought, Watson, you will find some point of intersection which should approximate to the truth.

   • 1802, Jedidiah Morse, The American Universal Geography

     The telescope approximates perfection.

3. (transitive) To carry or advance near; to cause to approach.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

     to approximate the inequality of riches to the level of nature

Translations

Latin

Verb

approxim?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of approxim?