Sample Sentences for
approach
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

approach as in:  approached the city

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Winter is approaching.
approaching = getting nearer
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    I grow more nervous as the test approaches.
    approaches = gets nearer
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    Walking past the moose bones, I approach the vehicle and step through an emergency exit at the back.  (source)
    approach = come near
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    Now and then a mall worker would try to approach him with a tidbit.  (source)
    approach = get near
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Show 10 more with 10 word variations
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    And saw, as he approached, that there were other, smaller markers all around it.  (source)
    approached = got near
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    The air is less hot, signifying evening's approach.  (source)
    approach = getting near
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    What were these three strange things approaching?  (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
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    The officer approaches the driver's door and taps the window.  (source)
    approaches = goes to
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    Surely it was mostly his grief over losing Mother that made him so unapproachable.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unapproachable means not and reverses the meaning of approachable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    Not so grand as the Station Master, but more approachable — less powerful than the old gentleman, but more confidential.†  (source)
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    "Nostril cams prove that the apocalypse approacheth," I said in a low voice.†  (source)
    standard suffix: Today, the suffix "-eth" is replaced by "-s", so that where they said "She approacheth" in older English, today we say "She approaches."
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    Wynand's face was more than the face of a stranger: a stranger's face is an unapproached potentiality, to be opened if one makes the choice and effort; this was a face known, closed and never to be reached again.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unapproached means not and reverses the meaning of approached. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    But there mingled with it a certain mild audacity, born of the occasion and of a sense, probably, of Newman's unprecedented approachableness, and, beyond this, a vague indifference to the old proprieties; as if my lady's own woman had at last begun to reflect that, since my lady had taken another person, she had a slight reversionary property in herself.†  (source)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
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    The varied sounds of life, made joyous by distance and seeming unapproachableness, came faintly and died away to a silence.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unapproachableness means not and reverses the meaning of approachableness. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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approach as in:  use the best approach

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    We need to approach this problem in a new way.
    approach = do (something in a particular way)
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    Maybe the best approach is to get him talking.  (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
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    Trying a new approach, he grabbed Alby's arms again and started dragging him along the ground.  (source)
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Show 10 more with 4 word variations
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    The final approach began with a huge climb.  (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
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    The approaches to the monorail station were black with the ant-like pullulation of lower-caste activity.  (source)
    approaches = routes that lead to a particular place
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    Had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit, had I risked the experiment while under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been otherwise, and from these agonies of death and birth, I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend.  (source)
    approached = handled (done something in a particular manner)
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    Skeletons of card soldiers and chessmen littered the dusty hall approaching the South Dining Room.  (source)
    approaching = leading to
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    How does this change our approach to the new simulation serum?  (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
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    We have had different approaches to agriculture, to monetary union, to defence.  (source)
    approaches = ways of doing something
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    But Lamar, the learned scholar and professor, approached the issue somewhat differently than his colleagues.  (source)
    approached = handled (did something in a particular manner)
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    Strong, Midwestern woman that she is, Sonja took a practical approach to the news.  (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
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    Sentinels were placed at all the approaches to the farm.  (source)
    approaches = routes that lead to a particular place
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    Our church gathering around us in the eye of the storm would change the way Sonja and I approached pastoral visitation in times of trial and grief.  (source)
    approached = handled (did something in a particular manner)
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approach as in:  approached her with the proposal

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They approached her about becoming a member of the committee.
approached = began communication with
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    I approached three bankers about a loan.
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    While he tried to decide on the best way to approach his request, the goblin broke the silence.  (source)
    approach = speak with someone about
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    However, please be aware that if you choose not to accept our proposal, we intend to approach each of your competitors. At the very least, we hope you'll do us the honor of being the first to hear our generous offer.  (source)
    approach = make a proposal
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Show 10 more with 5 word variations
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    Pim gave me a rough idea of how to approach Dussel, but cautioned me to wait until the next day, since I was in such a flap.  (source)
    approach = begin communication with
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    But Hammond had approached Wu with a directness Wu never forgot.  (source)
    approached = begun talking with
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    In many families, she had learned, one dress such as these would be handed down through three generations as a cherished possession. Surely in Hartford, or perhaps even here in Wethersfield, she would find willing buyers, even though she had not yet worked out a plan for approaching them.  (source)
    approaching = speaking with someone about something for the first time
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    "It must be because you're so approachable," I say flatly. "You know. Like a bed of nails."  (source)
    approachable = easy to talk to
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    As the question had no bearing, near or remote, on any foregone or subsequent transaction, I consider it to have been thrown out, like her previous approaches, in general conversational condescension.  (source)
    approaches = ways of engaging someone in conversation
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    We approach a great man through his servants.  (source)
    approach = begin communication with
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    One of their neighbors was the director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, and Walt approached this man, an army general, for advice.  (source)
    approached = began talking with
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    He walks up and down the platform, approaching every disembarking woman.  (source)
    approaching = beginning communication
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    This Keeper seemed a lot more approachable.  (source)
    approachable = easy to begin talking with
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    I was worried about him, but I wasn't really sure how to approach the subject.  (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about
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