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approach
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approach as in:  approached the city

show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • I grow more nervous as the test approaches.
    approaches = gets nearer
  • The officer approaches the driver's door and taps the window.   (source)
    approaches = goes to
  • When the bell rang, the professor approached my desk.   (source)
    approached = came near
  • She ducked lower as he approached, suddenly worried that the tip of her boat was visible.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • The kerosene had not yet approached a dangerously low level, but it was best to keep its usage to a minimum.   (source)
    approached = come near
  • Then a CIA agent called Raymond Davis shot and killed two men in Lahore who had approached his car on a motorbike.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • The air is less hot, signifying evening's approach.   (source)
    approach = getting near
  • Then one day, when she had almost given up hope, she found an injured bird in the garden that she did not think would fly again, but the next morning when she approached it, the bird lifted into the sky.   (source)
    approached = moved toward
  • Orly quickly sat down again, and Chet approached the mayor.   (source)
    approached = went to
  • Most days I worshiped Baba with an intensity approaching the religious.   (source)
    approaching = getting near
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show 89 more with this conextual meaning
  • As we approached the house, I could hear someone crying inside.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • Now and then a mall worker would try to approach him with a tidbit.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • With a Herculean effort, I managed to put her out of my mind by forcing myself to focus on the approaching battle.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • Have you seen these teens? Do not approach. Considered extremely dangerous.   (source)
    approach = go near
  • And then, at last, as he crept around yet another bend, he saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds. Harry approached, his throat very dry.   (source)
    approached = moved nearer
  • From across the lake he could see the approaching dust cloud.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • At dusk, we approached a bend where hand-painted signs advertising auto repairs and coal deliveries had been nailed to trees along the roadside.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • Those mountains heralded the approach of my desideratum.   (source)
    approach = coming near
  • It was now approaching mid-August, and the kill-all policy loomed.   (source)
    approaching = getting near
  • But he was more and more apprehensive as his own approached.   (source)
    approached = came near
  • They waited in silence, and after a minute the hadrosaur approached the branch again, jaws moving in anticipation.   (source)
    approached = moved toward
  • After a few blocks we approached the Esso station on the corner of West Market and Park Street, generally recognized as a catchall place for men with too much time on their hands.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • In the east the sky was smoky gray, and I was glad for the approaching dawn.   (source)
    approaching = coming
  • The alchemist had become much more cautious, because they were approaching the area where the most violent battles were being waged.   (source)
    approaching = getting near
  • DO NOT APPROACH BUFFALO!   (source)
    approach = get near
  • Turtle approached the frightened thief.   (source)
    approached = moved toward
  • On the front porch Mr. Morrison sat singing soft and low into the long night, chanting to the approaching thunder.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • And saw, as he approached, that there were other, smaller markers all around it.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • For less than four years later, after another careful accounting of the twice-tolling clock's twelve chimes, Alexander Ilyich Rostov would be climbing to the roof of the Metropol Hotel in his finest jacket and gamely approaching its parapet in order to throw himself into the street below.   (source)
    approaching = moving toward
  • The would-be thief could barely crawl, so Mamaw approached him, raised the business end of her rifle to the man's head, and prepared to finish the job.   (source)
    approached = moved toward
  • He approaches Lale and his new assistant.   (source)
    approaches = comes nearer
  • As the men approached, he could see that they were armed with guns and machetes.   (source)
    approached = got nearer
  • Eric approaches me with the needle and syringe in hand.   (source)
    approaches = comes toward
  • Woody carefully approached Wes and said, "Don't do it, man."   (source)
    approached = went to
  • Now we call it Shiva, Krishna, Shakti, Ganesha; we can approach it with some understanding; we can discern certain attributes—loving, merciful, frightening—and we feel the gentle pull of relationship.   (source)
    approach = get near (figuratively, get near understanding)
  • He approached one of the doors and pushed it open.   (source)
    approached = went to
  • By the time noon approached the tributary was gradually growing smaller.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • I turned to Michael in the approaching darkness.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • As the evening approached, I don't know who grew more nervous about it, Will or me.   (source)
    approached = got nearer
  • He approached Newt and Alby, who both knelt beside the girl.   (source)
    approached = went toward
  • And you think that date is approaching?   (source)
    approaching = getting near
  • I smiled and approached slowly.   (source)
    approached = moved toward
  • As we were approaching the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Sam asked Patrick to pull to the side of the road.   (source)
    approaching = getting near
  • So he approached me earlier today and asked me about it.   (source)
    approached = come to
  • When Peter turned and saw Cole approaching, he turned away.   (source)
    approaching = coming near
  • As Jack walked away, a woman approached Venkat's table.   (source)
    approached = went to
  • What were these three strange things approaching?   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • The windows of the house stay unlit as they approach.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • By the time the light outside grew gray with the approaching dawn, Klaus had found out all he needed to know.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • Hilly stands very still, watching her approach.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • When we slowed to a walk at the edge of the schoolyard, Jem was careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him at recess and noon.   (source)
    approach = come near
  • Woodenly, she approached the closest policeman.   (source)
    approached = went to
  • As she approached, it burbled, as if anticipating her arrival.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • Others, the Quackenbushes of this world, could calmly watch the war approach them and jump into it at the last and most advantageous instant, as though buying into the stock market.   (source)
    approach = coming near
  • And so no one had seen the approach of the five court messengers until they had come round the bend, a few paces from the edge of the crowd.   (source)
  • We left the cemetery as night approached.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • As we approach the Thanksgiving season and start to collect canned goods for the poor (as if they are not hungry for the other eleven months of the year), we should all look around, and instead of complaining like we usually do, sit down, and truly give thanks for the blessings that we have been given.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • He took off his hat as I approached him.   (source)
    approached = went to
  • He looked at the clouds again, noting their approach.   (source)
    approach = coming near
  • As I approached Mother's house, I looked up towards the sun, wondering if I would ever see it again.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • I watched Ruth approach the soccer field, thinking she was alone.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • The sound of her approaching footsteps blended with the violent beating of his heart.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • Now they approached the darker smudge that had been the signal fire, yawning, rubbing their eyes, treading with practiced feet.   (source)
    approached = went near
  • He saw the bulldozer drivers' union representative approaching and let his head sink back and closed his eyes.   (source)
    approaching = coming
  • As he approached, Khione and Zethes bowed.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • Approaching from the rear, Montag entered the men's washroom.   (source)
    approaching = arriving
  • I did not want to call out. I approached her quietly from behind.   (source)
    approached = went to
  • PROCTOR, familiarly, with warmth, although he knows he is approaching the edge of Giles' tolerance with this: Is it the Devil's fault that a man cannot say you good morning without you clap him for defamation?   (source)
    approaching = getting near
  • From without the house there was an approaching sound of stamping feet and murmuring voices, gathering volume in the roadway outside.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • A police officer approached the cell.   (source)
    approached = moved toward
  • Other soldiers approached his table at mess and asked permission to sit down.   (source)
    approached = went to
  • Mother's birthday is rapidly approaching.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • We approach a four-way stop and slow down.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • There they approach a freight train near the depot.   (source)
  • They would make a visual approach, the captain said.   (source)
    approach = getting near
  • He did not look up when Lieutenant Jimmy Cross approached.   (source)
    approached = went near
  • I lay still, listening, shaking a little, wondering whether the approaching horsemen had seen me.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • Farms signaled their approach to Therinsford.   (source)
    approach = getting near
  • "It is approaching a blizzard," Dad says, pointing to a single snowflake floating its way to the earth.   (source)
  • The decision had to be made — to approach Jack or not?   (source)
    approach = get near
  • As midnight approached on the night of April 14, Lewis Powell was in trouble.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • I approached Billy, but before I could open my mouth, he asked, "Want to see something?"   (source)
    approached = went to
  • As the conference approached, Deborah was calm, but I wasn't.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • She was smiling as she approached.   (source)
  • Later that night, as the new year approached, Jai could tell I was depressed.   (source)
  • But the summer air was warm and alive with birds as the day approached.   (source)
  • Agitation grew as the hour approached at which the train was supposed to come.   (source)
  • He fell silent as they approached a group of Japanese tourists listening intently to their guide, who was standing beneath a bright yellow umbrella.   (source)
    approached = moved nearer
  • Finally, as dawn approached, our fuel was nearly gone.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • It was best not to approach, to not draw attention to themselves.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • It was getting dark when they saw four men in the distance, approaching along the beach.   (source)
    approaching = getting nearer
  • The road approaches!   (source)
    approaches = comes nearer
  • In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill.   (source)
    approach = get near
  • Meantime, I was so thirsty I thought I might die before that hour approached.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • A few moments later, the referee approached.   (source)
    approached = came near
  • It raised its head as they approached and yowled.   (source)
    approached = got near
  • He had spent a dark week on the final preparations for the trip, because as the hour approached his humor was breaking down and things began to be misplaced, and what he put in one place would appear in another, attacked by the same elves that had tormented Fernanda.   (source)
  • Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling any of that direction as the time approached.   (source)
  • She had to wait for almost half an hour before an old woman with a cane approached from the direction of Djurgarden.   (source)
    approached = came near
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approach as in:  use the best approach

show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • We need to approach this problem in a new way.
    approach = do (something in a particular way)
  • I'd learned by then that a direct approach, 'By God, you better not try a stunt like that again!', didn't work with Chris.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Maybe the best approach is to get him talking.   (source)
  • They stalled their ship while turning from base leg onto landing approach.   (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
  • He tried another approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • I wanted to warn him. "Phoebe and I saw her slashing and hacking away at the bushes in her backyard."
    "Is there something wrong with that?" he asked.
    I tried another approach. "Her voice is like dead leaves blowing around, and her hair is spooky."   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • The remaining peasants, who viewed newly introduced approaches to agriculture with resentment and suspicion, proved antagonistic to even the smallest efforts at innovation.   (source)
    approaches = techniques (ways of doing things)
  • I saw him during visitations before the adoption, I would hide under the bed for the first few hours, fearful that he would kidnap me and never let me see Mamaw again. Seeing his son in such a frightened state led him to reconsider his approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • A fish jumping out of water was confronted by a famished boy with a hands-on, no-holds-barred approach to capturing it.   (source)
  • The final approach began with a huge climb.   (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
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show 88 more with this conextual meaning
  • I believe that there are four institutions in American history that have shaped our approach to race and justice but remain poorly understood.   (source)
    approach = method (way of doing something)
  • Trying a new approach, he grabbed Alby's arms again and started dragging him along the ground.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • The next time you find yourself with a woman, look in your heart and see if you cannot approach sex as a mystical, spiritual act.   (source)
    approach = begin to understand
  • But there's a better approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • "I'm trying a new approach," he said.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • Snape, meanwhile, seemed to have decided to act as though Harry were invisible. ... In fact, compared to what he usually had to endure from Snape in the way of taunts and snide remarks, he found the new approach something of an improvement, and was pleased to find that when left well alone, he was able to concoct an Invigoration Draught quite easily.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Before a heat, we sit and watch the waves coming into shore, and then we discuss my best approach.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • Mrs. Brocklebank—whose daughter, Heather, is in my Grade 12 English class— took a slightly different approach to her lawn; I found her ripping her dandelions out by their roots.   (source)
  • He walked quietly to the door which commanded the approach to the church compound, and stood there.   (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
  • Unable to choose between the two approaches, I decided to try both.   (source)
    approaches = ways of doing something
  • That week I took a different approach. I did everything I could to conserve my energy, to save every ounce of strength for the game.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Here was an approach that had quite simply not occurred to him.   (source)
  • We try very hard to be culturally diverse in our approach.   (source)
  • When I think about my essay today, what I do is go over it in some detail: I may think of a completely new approach I could have taken, or about different writers and books I could have focused on.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • V. "WELL, HELLO THERE, GREETINGS," said Dave the psychiatrist as he closed the door and took a seat across from me in his office: kilim rugs, shelves filled with old textbooks (Drugs and Society; Child Psychology: A Different Approach); and beige draperies that parted with a hum when you pushed a button.   (source)
  • If that had been a good army, C toon, your approach was so slow they would have had you from the flanks before you got into good position.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • As the plane came in on its final approach, the pilots encountered severe wind shear.   (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
  • Unsure, I opted for Dad's approach and said nothing.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • You tried the diplomatic approach.   (source)
  • How does this change our approach to the new simulation serum?   (source)
  • Strong, Midwestern woman that she is, Sonja took a practical approach to the news.   (source)
  • On Friday he tried a more direct approach.   (source)
  • I approached my treatment like I approach so many things, as a scientist.   (source)
    approached = handled (did something in a particular manner)
  • Wallace had made up his mind before the game that he would take a different approach.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • Until now, their approach had been covert; they'd traveled only over the desert's black squares of tar and volcanic rock to camouflage themselves from Redd's lookouts.   (source)
    approach = route
  • The preacher was a widower, and his wife had come from the same country as Saeed, and so the preacher knew some of Saeed's language, and his approach to religion was partly familiar to Saeed, while at the same time partly novel, too.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • That was my approach to most things the past few months.   (source)
  • We were on our final approach to the enormous U.S. base at Bagram.   (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
  • Holmes tried a different approach.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • When she had registered with the Immigration and Naturalization Service upon filing her green card application, Luma had been fingerprinted; her fingers were placed on an ink pad and carefully rolled over the card beneath. The woman at the Walton County jail had a different approach; she grabbed Luma's hand, inked her fingertips, and then slammed her hand down on the counter.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Following the crowd is not a winning approach to life.   (source)
  • He was not going to find anything that his professional predecessor and his experienced team had missed, and he was undecided what approach he should adopt to the problem.   (source)
  • Lord, I do admire their direct approach.   (source)
  • When he saw the first light of dawn on the horizon, he attempted an indirect approach.   (source)
  • And like all science, the best approach is to learn by sleuthing.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • If the rap sessions failed to provide adequate information, the stroking was abandoned for a more direct approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • He has a very different approach to …. governing.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • THOMAS STONE TOOK a different approach; he focused on the problem of the shortage of organs and pursued a solution that most others considered a dead end: removing part of a liver from a living healthy parent and giving that to a child whose liver was failing.   (source)
  • Of course, Dick was very literal-minded, very— he had no understanding of music, poetry-and yet when you got right down toot, Dick's literalness, his pragmatic approach to every subject, was the primary reason Perry had been attracted to him, for it made Dick seem, compared to himself, so authentically tough, invulnerable, "totally masculine."   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • "Dr. Hammond," my mom said, and this time, Whitney rolled her eyes at his name, "says that this woman, Moira Bell, has had great success with many of his patients because she takes a different approach."   (source)
    approach = route (way to achieving something)
  • The old man took a different approach.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • He continued speaking directly to the dead woman, and I half wished she would rise up and answer him, offended by the coarseness of his approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Why can't we take a more positive approach?   (source)
  • After a minute, he came up with a new approach: "Hey, what if we hung a string down from a floating thing."   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • As you can see, the Foreland Exotic Opportunities Savings Plan represents an entirely new approach to investment.   (source)
  • As he whipped through the town, it occurred to Ignatius that a more direct approach would be called for.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Eragon admired the elf's courage, but he wondered whether insulting Glaedr was really the best approach.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • Mattie, more inclined to the direct approach, was throwing rocks the size of potatoes.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Maybe if I hit some code-breaking sites I could figure out a different approach for how to find our parents.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • As the pilot entered his final approach the flight officer acknowledged their clearance to the tower, then switched to his prescribed sterile frequency and sent a last message in French to an off limits communications room.   (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
  • Tipping back her glass, Lee decided to try a more direct approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • The direct approach might work.   (source)
  • We have had different approaches to agriculture, to monetary union, to defence.   (source)
    approaches = ways of doing something
  • Another kind of approach seemed to be required.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Corrine most likely saw that she wasn't going to get anywhere with her line of questioning, so she tried a different approach.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • But Lamar, the learned scholar and professor, approached the issue somewhat differently than his colleagues.   (source)
    approached = handled (did something in a particular manner)
  • I don't know that she'll quite understand his passionate approach to life like I'm starting to.†   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • By that I mean the completely new approach to what science was.†   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • And I tell you my frame of mind that night so you can know there are profound differences between vampires, and how I came to take a different approach from Lestat.†   (source)
  • The best approach was to throw myself immediately on her mercy.†   (source)
  • Bernie Krisher of American Assistance for Cambodia tried another approach.†   (source)
    approach = a way of doing something
  • Roscoe decided the best approach was to pretend a dream was happening, though he knew quite well it wasn't.†   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • We just need a different approach, they say.†   (source)
  • A very different approach.†   (source)
  • For the first time, he was on his own with his studies, and he bent to them with the spirit of independence and intense determination that were to characterize much of his whole approach to life.†   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • What is our best approach?†   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • The best approach was by the Trapani road, but the colonel had been wary.†   (source)
  • Rachel Levy, head of the center's publicity department, thought blandness and a trace of obfuscation would be the best approach, but Hannah overruled her.†   (source)
  • But in matters of vital importance — meaning, in effect, war and police espionage — the empirical approach is still encouraged, or at least tolerated.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • What is police work, some may inquire, but a new approach to old-fashioned caritas—the heart's concern with, not simply some part of the cosmic bog, but the whole?†   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • 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
  • 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)
  • I was thinking how I had best approach him (I did not want to be flung off again) when he gave a little laugh.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • Mrs. Bird cast a glance at a camphor-bottle, which stood in the half-open closet, and appeared to meditate an approach to it, but her husband interposed.   (source)
    approach = route (way to get somewhere)
  • We have never been there above once since the new approach was made; but still I have no doubt that James will take you very safely.   (source)
  • He was about to retool and try a different approach when his phone rang.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • I'm not sure what our current approach is.   (source)
  • I approached my treatment like I approach so many things, as a scientist.   (source)
    approach = do (in a particular way)
  • Morrie's approach was exactly the opposite.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Skeletons of card soldiers and chessmen littered the dusty hall approaching the South Dining Room.   (source)
    approaching = leading to
  • Rather than waste any more time, Mr. Eaton, I thought I would take the most logical approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
  • Time would tell whether her approach produced results.   (source)
  • Luma's approach did not sit well with all of her players' parents.   (source)
  • "About our current approach," says Haymitch.   (source)
  • Jordan didn't like Scipio's approach to dealing with refugees either.   (source)
  • I'd prefer a less direct approach, but there isn't time.   (source)
  • I got the feeling that was exactly what she meant, but she decided to try a different approach.   (source)
    approach = way of doing something
  • Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach.   (source)
    approach = technique (way of doing something)
▲ show less (of above)

approach as in:  approached her with the proposal

show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • I approached three bankers about a loan.
  • Before, the women who worked for my mother had always approached her casually, with matter-of-fact questions about their work.   (source)
    approached = communicated with
  • Once the persecution began, his work slowly dried up. ... He approached an old faithful named Herbert Bollinger—a man with a hemispheric waistline who spoke Hochdeutsch (he was from Hamburg)—when he saw him on Munich Street. At first, the man looked down, past his girth, to the ground, but when his eyes returned to the painter, the question clearly made him uncomfortable.   (source)
    approached = began communicating (about a delicate topic) with
  • 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
  • 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
  • That was the date of a now famous meeting, in which Robert Swanson, a venture capitalist, approached Herbert Boyer, a biochemist at the University of California.   (source)
  • A favor could be called in by Andrey, a swap negotiated by Emile, and Audrius approached by the Count. Thus, the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth ingredients.   (source)
    approached = to begin communication regarding a proposal
  • Almost all he can do is watch, in particular the SS guarding them, and he tries to work out who can be approached and who must be avoided.  He starts to talk occasionally to one of them.   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation
  • "It must be because you're so approachable," I say flatly. "You know. Like a bed of nails."
      (source)
    approachable = easy to talk to
  • Eighty-one days after being approached by two young girls about where flowers might be found, George Stinney was pronounced dead.   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation
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show 65 more with this conextual meaning
  • This Keeper seemed a lot more approachable.   (source)
    approachable = easy to begin talking with
  • Then he was approached with an extraordinary proposition.   (source)
    approached = engaged in talking about something delicate
  • Why haven't they approached us?   (source)
    approached = begun talking with
  • While he tried to decide on the best way to approach his request, the goblin broke the silence.   (source)
    approach = speak with someone about
  • We approach a great man through his servants.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • Kaylee wasn't the only person who approached me that day.   (source)
    approached = began talking with
  • 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
  • Any way he approached the question, he couldn't see the logic in prohibiting calls.   (source)
    approached = thought about
  • 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
  • "Well," said Eragon, wondering how best to approach the subject, "I keep hearing about the Dragon Riders and their supposed accomplishments."   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about
  • That I am not sure how to approach the next part of the story.   (source)
  • Had Moore known this before Golde patented them, he could have approached the companies directly and worked out a deal to sell the cells himself.   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation
  • Somehow, the way she had approached him had skirted his resistance to her love.   (source)
    approached = begun talking with
  • That person was too busy for them to approach.   (source)
    approach = begin communication about something
  • She decided to make her approach. Standing in front of Saeed's father she proceeded to talk animatedly with a friend while ignoring the object of her desire. He noticed her. He listened to her. He summoned the nerve to speak to her.   (source)
    approach = to begin communication with someone for the first time
  • It was the boy, the one with the old man who had tried to approach Baba jan at the school's opening ceremony.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • Though he had not shown up at the second tryouts or at either of two subsequent practices, Fornatee thought that scrimmage day was the right time to make his approach to Coach Luma, to ask to get reinstated to the team.   (source)
    approach = attempt to start talking (about a subject)
  • She approached the question gingerly, wary of what an admission like that would mean.   (source)
    approached = began talking about
  • Some ideas were more general topics that you could think about and figure out how to approach, like teenage depression.   (source)
    approach = begin communication about something
  • Then maybe we can figure out how to approach Desjardins, to convince him we have to cooperate.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • I was worried about him, but I wasn't really sure how to approach the subject.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about
  • Vanessa was friendly if approached but more reserved than her reputation and appearance would suggest.   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation
  • Certainly not by me, nor has John approached my father (my mother has informed me in the strictest of confidences) with any discussion of dowry.   (source)
    approached = begun talking with
  • I wish I could apologize but … I don't know how to approach them.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • We don't know how to approach you. We can't speak your language.   (source)
  • Nor had he known how to approach her.   (source)
  • He knew instinctively how to approach, how to touch, how to confuse and distract, so that, fearful or not, the dog found itself acquiescing.†   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about something
  • First I carried the germ around for a while, mulling over how best to approach it, then I sat down and knocked a few items onto the screen, then I began fleshing out the argument.†   (source)
  • She used the knocker shaped like a trinity knot, considered how best to approach her cousin.†   (source)
  • In the poorest house Sam, the unlucky one, considered how best to approach the new vicar for a loan.†   (source)
  • For she understood, as she insinuated, that the real cavalier here was Hans Castorp and that young Ziemssen was merely his assistant; but since she was also well aware of Hans Castorp's partiality for Frau Chauchat, she assumed he was chaperoning poor little Karstedt as a substitute for a woman he evidently did not know how to approach.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • He gave his friend a few seconds to recover his composure, and then approached the question he had come to put.   (source)
    approached = began talking about
  • Remembering Withers's revelation about the Navajo, Shefford scarcely knew how to approach him now.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • But this time he had specially urgent business, and he foresaw how difficult it would be to approach the subject, yet he was in great haste.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about
  • After that, with an irrepressible smile of tenderness, Kitty recalled her husband's shamefaced embarrassment, his repeated awkward efforts to approach the subject, and how at last, having thought of the one means of helping Dolly without wounding her pride, he had suggested to Kitty—what had not occurred to her before—that she should give up her share of the property.   (source)
  • The thought occurred to Hester, that the child might really be seeking to approach her with childlike confidence, and doing what she could, and as intelligently as she knew how, to establish a meeting-point of sympathy.   (source)
    approach = speak with someone about something for the first time
  • Fred secretly felt that his future was guaranteed against the fulfilment of Mary's sarcastic prophecies, apart from that "anything" which he was ready to do if she would define it He never dared in Mary's presence to approach the subject of his expectations from Mr. Featherstone, and she always ignored them, as if everything depended on himself.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about
  • Having thought of the matter with care, I approached my subject as if I had never hinted at it before.   (source)
    approached = began talking about
  • She might have disdained him in all the dignity of angry virtue, in the grounds of Sotherton, or the theatre at Mansfield Park; but he approached her now with rights that demanded different treatment. ... she must have a strong feeling of gratitude.   (source)
    approached = began (again) to talk about a delicate topic
  • I just hoped that Aech, Art3mis, and any other gunters they approached felt the same way.   (source)
    approached = made a proposal to
  • That I happen to live there is why the Teacher approached me in the first place.   (source)
    approached = began communicating (about a delicate topic) with
  • He walks up and down the platform, approaching every disembarking woman.   (source)
    approaching = beginning communication
  • But Hammond had approached Wu with a directness Wu never forgot.   (source)
    approached = begun talking with
  • So, with slow care rather than stealth, we must approach the subject of a certain woman.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about
  • But He made them for His messengers so that we could approach Him through them.   (source)
    approach = communicate
  • But later, when he was approached by Lewis Dodgson at Biosyn, Nedry was ready to listen.   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation
  • The Count had not much cause to interact with children, but he had been raised well enough to know that a child should not idly approach a stranger, should not interrupt him in the middle of a meal, and certainly should not ask him questions about his personal appearance.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • Teabing had approached the BBC with a proposal for a historical documentary in which he would expose the explosive history of the Holy Grail to a mainstream television audience.   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation (to make a proposal)
  • But it was during those frantic days of the mid-1980s that he was approached by the InGen corporation with a request for consulting services.   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation
  • One had to know how to approach Wesley, and how to keep the wrong influences away from him, and how to get Mr. Thompson interested without letting him know too much, and how to cut Chick Morrison in on it, but keep Tinky Holloway out, and how to get the right people to give a few parties for Wesley at the right time, and ….   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • I couldn't approach the subject again, for months.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about
  • Mr. Riach, perhaps from caution, would never suffer me to say another word about my story; the captain, whom I tried to approach, rebuffed me like a dog and would not hear a word; and as the days came and went, my heart sank lower and lower, till I was even glad of the work which kept me from thinking.   (source)
    approach = begin communication about something
  • But as a youth in love trembles, is unnerved, and dares not utter the thoughts he has dreamed of for nights, but looks around for help or a chance of delay and flight when the longed-for moment comes and he is alone with her, so Rostov, now that he had attained what he had longed for more than anything else in the world, did not know how to approach the Emperor, and a thousand reasons occurred to him why it would be inconvenient, unseemly, and impossible to do so.   (source)
    approach = begin communication with
  • To this end, she approached the question with divers laudatory and appropriate remarks touching the general amiability of Mr Frank Cheeryble.   (source)
    approached = began talking about
  • On my reverting to some other topic that we had been discussing, he recovered immediately; but, though I tried him again and again, I never approached the question of the school, even if he were in the middle of a laugh, without observing that his countenance fell, and that he became uncomfortable.   (source)
  • 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
  • The young ladies who approached her at first with some respect, in consideration of her coming from a baronet's family, were soon offended by what they termed "airs"; for, as she neither played on the pianoforte nor wore fine pelisses, they could, on farther observation, admit no right of superiority.   (source)
    approached = engaged (communicated or thought about)
  • But for the reluctance I had to betray the confidence of Agnes, but for my uncertainty how to approach the subject with no risk of doing so, it would have reached them before he said, 'God bless you, Daisy, and good night!'   (source)
    approach = speak with someone about
  • While trying to keep herself alive, their visitor, who had at first approached her with as animated a countenance as ever, was wisely and kindly keeping his eyes away, and giving her time to recover, while he devoted himself entirely to her mother, addressing her, and attending to her with the utmost politeness and propriety, at the same time with a degree of friendliness, of interest at least, which was making his manner perfect.   (source)
    approached = began communicating (about a delicate topic) with
  • It was always best to approach him formally.†   (source)
    approach = begin communication with someone about something
  • And accordingly, Clyde was sent for, and being carefully coached beforehand by Ratterer as to how to approach his new superior, and what to say, he was given the place.†   (source)
  • I approached my host with a cordial, winning word: 'So, you ask me the name I'm known by, Cyclops? ... Nobody—that's my name.'   (source)
    approached = engaged in conversation
  • Miss Gordon says she believed her brother dead until last March, when the head of the psychology department at Beekman University approached her for permission to use Charlie in an experiment.   (source)
    approached = began communicating (about a delicate topic) with
  • For one thing he mightn't what you call jump at the idea, if approached, and what mostly worried him was he didn't know how to lead up to it or word it exactly,   (source)
    approached = began speaking with someone about something
  • A week had gone by since she had first approached him.   (source)
    approached = begun communication on a delicate topic
▲ show less (of above)

show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • They approach her neck.†   (source)
  • From one of the small doorways, a dog's head and shoulders emerged— Essay, watching him approach, half in and half out.†   (source)
  • She stood up as I approached.†   (source)
  • My mother's approach to learning English consisted of daily lessons with Monty Hall and Bob Barker.†   (source)
  • It's a numerical approach that uses quantity to derive quality.†   (source)
  • "He's right, Lauren," said Chuck, continuing to approach to her.†   (source)
  • He is startled by the approach of Oberscharfuhrer Houstek, accompanied by a young SS officer.†   (source)
  • She heard footsteps approaching.†   (source)
  • Dave Sanders, a teacher, stood in a hallway as the gunmen approached, blocking oncoming students and urging them to run the other way to safety.†   (source)
  • Wes wanted to know more and, never shy, he approached the boys.†   (source)
▲ show less (of above)
show 190 more examples with any meaning
  • Well, I'll remind you of that as your someday approaches.†   (source)
  • I try to approach each child with an open mind and not be influenced by other teachers.†   (source)
  • They approached slowly up the drive.†   (source)
  • An armed man approached her and told her to walk toward the southern goalpost.†   (source)
  • But she let me approach-twenty feet, ten feet.†   (source)
  • My steps slowed as I approached the market.†   (source)
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached the fence cautiously.†   (source)
  • The fog was thinner as you approached the top of the hill.†   (source)
  • And then it changed again and it said 1 HARROW & WEALDSTONE — STAND BACK TRAIN APPROACHING.†   (source)
  • One of them spots us and approaches, a younger official following close behind him.†   (source)
  • He showed no sign he'd even noticed the Gladers approach.†   (source)
  • People were approaching.†   (source)
  • "Dr. Beck," Vogel said, "we have passed closest approach point and you are now getting further away.†   (source)
  • This time I walked slowly as I approached.†   (source)
  • She always approached each new person and each new experience the exact same way.†   (source)
  • Mai and Dell have different approaches to everything in life.†   (source)
  • Volkheimer approaches; his big solicitous face presses close.†   (source)
  • "Mr. G.," I say, approaching his desk, "I have something to show you!"†   (source)
  • Emma looked up as I approached.†   (source)
  • How could anyone approach them with ill intent?†   (source)
  • Then I heard the rumbling sound of the mosquito sprayer approaching.†   (source)
  • There's something bad approaching.†   (source)
  • Mae didn't know who to approach.†   (source)
  • Did he approach you again about these land matters?†   (source)
  • Mr. Poe called, as he and the children approached.†   (source)
  • Strangers approach me on the beach, in airports, in shops and restaurants.†   (source)
  • It was then that Mr. Fish approached close enough to the gravestone to read his own name thereon.†   (source)
  • I think sometimes I can appease the mailman; I see his jeep approaching from a mile away and I say a quick series of prayers, the way I do when a promising cloud appears on the low horizon.†   (source)
  • She approached the rack.†   (source)
  • She approached.†   (source)
  • May I approach?†   (source)
  • She approached the turn in the path, and the noises continued.†   (source)
  • Jordan McAfee approached her, holding a box of Kleenex.†   (source)
  • As Ben's hand approaches with the scalpel, it becomes rock steady.†   (source)
  • But my time is fast approaching.†   (source)
  • She planned to plant a clump of ceanothus along the approach to the swimming pool.†   (source)
  • I came back to the park and approached a man who was observing the game.†   (source)
  • He hears me approaching and spins around to face me.†   (source)
  • The wounded space guys approached the lunchroom loudspeakers and called for their evil zombie nerds.†   (source)
  • I hurriedly walked near the gutters and took cover when I heard a vehicle approaching.†   (source)
  • The train approached the bridge.†   (source)
  • Offstage right, people are heard approaching.†   (source)
  • The only ones who seemed bothered were those forced to move when the canoe approached them.†   (source)
  • As we approached, Kate looked up and waved.†   (source)
  • Outside, I could hear the sounds of Mother and the boys approaching the car.†   (source)
  • "Don't talk to anyone and don't approach him again," Len warned.†   (source)
  • The med-droid approached too fast.†   (source)
  • The motor is getting louder now, approaching.†   (source)
  • Hana approached the wicket.†   (source)
  • John approached her with a huge bouquet of flowers.†   (source)
  • He approaches the grave.†   (source)
  • With every German we approached, we put our lives in danger.†   (source)
  • The body lay reassuringly still as he approached it, and continued to lie reassuringly still as he reached it and put his foot down on the Kill-O-Zap gun that still dangled from its limp fingers.†   (source)
  • The pat approached violence.†   (source)
  • I heard May ask as I approached.†   (source)
  • A shadow approached.†   (source)
  • After they had enough money to work with, Rameck, George, and Sampson approached several elementary schools in Newark to try to arrange student field trips to the campus.†   (source)
  • Although he had hit the last rabbit he shot at, he felt lucky, and he approached the brushy area with an arrow already nocked on the string.†   (source)
  • All the same, as that summer approached, I began to feel more and more the odd one out.†   (source)
  • You have to approach it like an investor.†   (source)
  • For the first time since approaching me at Rosie's, Tony addresses me eye to eye.†   (source)
  • He approaches a house and speaks softly, his head slightly bowed.†   (source)
  • Rahel approached quietly.†   (source)
  • "Normally that approach into Guam is not difficult," Brenner began.†   (source)
  • As we approached the wire, Azar put his hand on my shoulder, guiding me over toward the boulder pile.†   (source)
  • First light is approaching.†   (source)
  • The smile widened when we approached.†   (source)
  • Saphira approached the doors at a measured pace.†   (source)
  • We approached the park in a car gone silent except for Marybeth's constant nail drumming on the window.†   (source)
  • They smiled in welcome, but made no move to approach us.†   (source)
  • At first my heart raced every time I heard one of the maids approaching.†   (source)
  • Then, on the drive home, as Gramps and I were approaching the California-Oregon border, I just had this sudden flash—a vision of me lugging a cello through New York City.†   (source)
  • But approaching the gate are a few moving specks—silver, when the light catches them.†   (source)
  • Mr. Powell looked at the approaching hunter.†   (source)
  • Footsteps approaching the door or only the heartbeat in his ears?†   (source)
  • Footsteps were approaching outside.†   (source)
  • But he lowered his head as she approached and clamped his wooden jaws around her wrist.†   (source)
  • The sound of a train approaching is heard†   (source)
  • We didn't dare approach him.†   (source)
  • As they approach he sees that after a certain expanse the yard falls away, and then he sees the lake, a blue a thousand times deeper, more brilliant, than the sky and girded by pines.†   (source)
  • At 11:00 P.M., the cavalry patrol approached Bowling Green.†   (source)
  • All seven of them stand as I approach.†   (source)
  • The attendant turns his head as I approach.†   (source)
  • Wilem approached us.†   (source)
  • A Thomas Hawk lazing on midday thermals flaps in panic at my approach.†   (source)
  • As we approached the church I started to shake and sweat, and just before we reached the church doorway, I stepped out of line.†   (source)
  • This time I approached with caution.†   (source)
  • A pebbled beach awaited their approach, and behind it a backdrop of rich and dense forest rose up to the base of a mountain, crested by the whiteness of freshly fallen snow.†   (source)
  • As the first day of filming approached, she bathed him.†   (source)
  • As you will have discerned, this is an approach with which I have limited sympathy.†   (source)
  • So he is no longer a "philosophic God" that people can approach with their understanding.†   (source)
  • As we approached Mrs. Bates's home, I saw news reporters.†   (source)
  • "Your wife is approaching clinical shock," a nurse said.†   (source)
  • I approached the role from within.†   (source)
  • Soldiers were approaching along the track, pausing at each car to haul open the heavy sliding door.†   (source)
  • As they approach, the guys on the deck sit up, take notice, draw revolvers out of their waistbands.†   (source)
  • But such a simple approach did not always apply.†   (source)
  • Our whole approach was to pressure Montana.†   (source)
  • The phone calls have stopped, she hasn't approached us or come to the house.†   (source)
  • They heard the dop of a horse approaching.†   (source)
  • Nicholas Flamel approached the rats warily.†   (source)
  • Friendlies were approaching our position.†   (source)
  • I hoped none of them would be foolish enough to approach without permission from dock authorities.†   (source)
  • The Four Card was growing more desperate as Hatter approached.†   (source)
  • Emily was approaching Carrie Jensen's window.†   (source)
  • It would have to circle around, reestablish visual, make another approach, and hover again.†   (source)
  • Stewart stopped the company and a couple of men approached the hole.†   (source)
  • The owner of the pharmacy was approaching.†   (source)
  • Imagine those first Portuguese adventurers approaching the shore, spying on the jungle's edge through their fitted brass lenses.†   (source)
  • I took the right-hand side, Mikey center left, guarding both the head-on approach and the flank.†   (source)
  • At first Burnham tried the oblique approach.†   (source)
  • He doesn't see me approach and then is startled to find me next to him.†   (source)
  • Tug approaching.†   (source)
  • A wish that continually approaches but never achieves fulfillment.†   (source)
  • Against this backdrop, Luma rose and approached the lectern.†   (source)
  • I approached her and she moved back.†   (source)
  • An approaching car beeped and swerved and beeped again, but he hardly noticed.†   (source)
  • I could approach her.†   (source)
  • Slowly Clary approached the edge of it and peered inside.†   (source)
  • As I approached the bike racks, I looked down.†   (source)
  • We approached him in a phalanx.†   (source)
  • The approach of the elections was the thread that led him once more to the skein of subversion.†   (source)
  • Early on I ran over their safety, helping to set the tone for our approach to the rest of the game.†   (source)
  • The door to Dale's shop stands ajar, and I hear the clanging of metal on metal as I approach.†   (source)
  • It was as if she had a premonition of some approaching disaster.†   (source)
  • As the end of the month approached, my thoughts were drawn to Jason Stevens.†   (source)
  • "Far be it from me to even approach untangling that hellhole of a mind," he said, carefully.†   (source)
  • APPROACHING VIVIAN'S HOUSE, MOLLY LOOKS AT HER PHONE.†   (source)
  • Let's just ...approach with caution, you know?†   (source)
  • When I returned to the dining room, I approached the proprietress to ask for a beer.†   (source)
  • =========================== How do we approach the study of Muad'Dib's father?†   (source)
  • Just as we approached the house where I was staying Buddy said, "Let's go up to the chemistry lab.†   (source)
  • The Shores of Sleep are approaching.†   (source)
  • My mother approached him, her body stiff with shock.†   (source)
  • The female announcer's voice cuts through the silence: "Air train approaching."†   (source)
  • The officer in charge approached the foreman and said something we couldn't make out, but it sounded like a scolding.†   (source)
  • The snow creaked audibly underfoot as he approached the door.†   (source)
  • I was about to approach Narciso to tell him I was going home and would warn Ultima, but he stumbled off into the snow and I heard him mumble, "I will go to Andrew!"†   (source)
  • Severo pointed to the sofa and she approached shyly.†   (source)
  • They approached each other, carefully.†   (source)
  • He approached the Queen.†   (source)
  • Sonny, we must approach this enterprise in a scientific manner!†   (source)
  • I put the halter behind my back and she actually lets me approach her.†   (source)
  • I even knew when Stew Cat was approaching me.†   (source)
  • On hearing our approach, they sat down and started bawling treed.†   (source)
  • And if a strange man approached me during my play and stared down at me and my brother, perhaps asking our names, I don't remember it now.†   (source)
  • There are other methods as well and I would like to talk about one such approach.†   (source)
  • The cab was approaching Harlem.†   (source)
  • The bartender approaches the player to change records.†   (source)
  • An elderly couple approached.†   (source)
  • I turned off the Beltway and approached the building discreetly.†   (source)
  • Finally, the men approached the light of the campfire that had been built outside the shelter.†   (source)
  • It was the same shivery jolt I experienced whenever Patch approached.†   (source)
  • Instead of investing in a large theme park, the company pursued a more decentralized approach.†   (source)
  • The secretary rounded the corner and approached us.†   (source)
  • I woke from my apathy only when two men approached my father.†   (source)
  • Minutes later we approached the outskirts of Cape Town.†   (source)
  • His mother watches after him as in his frustration he approaches the door almost comically.†   (source)
  • It was twilight and traffic was increasing when we approached Profactia.†   (source)
  • As he heard me approach, he quickly leaped up, grabbing a nearby loaf of bread and holding it in front of him as if struck by a sudden desire to make a sandwich.†   (source)
  • Snow Began to Fall come dusk lovely tangos wind and flake silent wisps growing bold wicked relentless hinting winter's random temper breath taking dazzling lifting me to heights I'd never approached silver frosted morning white landscape reflecting purple painted sky but as Newton would opine what goes skyward must surely crash.†   (source)
  • But as we were writing this book, two new studies pointed to another approach to revolutionize fertility and gender in the villages: television.†   (source)
  • I forced myself to approach her calmly.†   (source)
  • Ali exclaimed warmly, looking up as she approached.†   (source)
  • The audience grew as the clock approached 8:45.†   (source)
  • As they argued, a most peculiar little figure stepped nimbly from behind the sign and approached them, talking all the while.†   (source)
  • When the due date approached he wanted it renewed.†   (source)
  • I wait until Mrs. Peterson finishes her after-class discussion with Alex before approaching him.†   (source)
  • I can't believe it," Aunt Emily says, shaking her head in greeting as they approach me.†   (source)
  • No one dared approach.†   (source)
  • We climb the steps, and the full height of the approaching columns is overwhelming.†   (source)
  • Train whistles, the fanfare of an approaching Santa Fe express, penetrated the courtroom.†   (source)
  • Two approached him from opposite sides, leaned against him.†   (source)
  • Secret Service agent Jerry Behn approaches the desk of Evelyn Lincoln.†   (source)
  • She angrily approached the policeman at the desk.†   (source)
  • It ran when the party approached.†   (source)
  • She jumped back two steps when we approached, and I thought for a second she might run.†   (source)
  • He approaches me shyly, holding his hat in his hands.†   (source)
  • This would forestall any possible rumors of their approach.†   (source)
  • Want to try an approach?†   (source)
  • Bratton took a novel approach to policing.†   (source)
  • (as he writes)" ...creating a relaxed atmosphere which will change to one of tension and drama as the climax is approached.†   (source)
  • Damn, I didn't recognize you," says the man, waving on Cedric's approach.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Bittery approached me and cleared her throat.†   (source)
  • He never took the holier-than-thou approach as a Christian either.†   (source)
  • Tomas approached the Swiss border.†   (source)
  • I was the only one who approached him.†   (source)
  • Welch as she approached me.†   (source)
  • He stood up as he saw me approach.†   (source)
  • The hunters had to pass my father to reach the boat, and when the first one approached him, he stepped in his path.†   (source)
▲ show less (of above)

meaning too rare to warrant focus:

show 10 examples with meaning too rare to warrant focus
  • I ate the fried pig skins, danced, screamed and drank the extra-sweet and sticky Coca-Cola with the nearest approach to abandonment I had ever experienced.†   (source)
  • The nearest approach to decoration was a number of wooden panels with sayings, mostly from Repentances, artistically burnt into them.†   (source)
  • The nearest approach to it in reality—the man who lives to serve others—is the slave.†   (source)
  • When she had brought up a cup of hot tea and a hot brick, rolled in flannel, she looked down at Scarlett and said, with the nearest approach to an apology in her voice Scarlett had ever heard: "Lamb, huccome you din' tell yo' own Mammy whut you wuz upter?†   (source)
  • This was the nearest approach Henchard could make to the full truth.†   (source)
  • "My Caroline," he would say, making the nearest approach that he could to bending over her.†   (source)
  • That was the nearest approach to independence a man could make "under capitalism," he explained; he would never marry, for no sane man would allow himself to fall in love until after the revolution.†   (source)
  • This was the nearest approach I could get to Harvard and to the fulfillment of my childish declaration.†   (source)
  • The nearest approach to her was a Unitarian minister from Boston, who very soon demanded a separation, for incompatibility of temper.†   (source)
  • No vair or ermine decked this garment; but in respect of his age, the Grand Master, as permitted by the rules, wore his doublet lined and trimmed with the softest lambskin, dressed with the wool outwards, which was the nearest approach he could regularly make to the use of fur, then the greatest luxury of dress.†   (source)
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  • Ralph never laughed, but on this occasion he produced the nearest approach to it that he could, and waiting until Mr Squeers had enjoyed the professional joke to his heart's content, inquired what had brought him to town.†   (source)
  • Boldwood was tenant of what was called Little Weatherbury Farm, and his person was the nearest approach to aristocracy that this remoter quarter of the parish could boast of.†   (source)
  • Perhaps the nearest approach to the latter that Hetty had manifested was to be seen in the sensitiveness which had caused her to detect March's predilection for her sister, for, among Judith's many admirers, this was the only instance in which the dull mind of the girl had been quickened into an observation of the circumstances.†   (source)
  • The lip of the moose is, perhaps, the nearest approach to the trunk of the elephant that is to be found in the American forest, but this resemblance was far from being sufficiently striking to bring the new creature within the range of their habits and ideas, and the more they studied the image, the greater was their astonishment.†   (source)
  • Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation—the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks.†   (source)
  • Somewhere in this building was its owner, the man who had made him feel his nearest approach to hatred.†   (source)
  • That had been his nearest approach to success through conformity.†   (source)
  • That thought, by what I can now nearest approach to say it, is this.†   (source)
  • This was M. de Grosjoyaux's nearest approach to a generalization.†   (source)
  • "Oh, of course you see only the Mingott side," his mother answered, in the sensitive tone that was her nearest approach to anger.†   (source)
  • On my arrival at Starkfield, Denis Eady, the rich Irish grocer, who was the proprietor of Starkfield's nearest approach to a livery stable, had entered into an agreement to send me over daily to Corbury Flats, where I had to pick up my train for the Junction.†   (source)
  • Later still he was at Kennetbridge, a thriving town not more than a dozen miles south of Marygreen, this being his nearest approach to the village where he was known; for he had a sensitive dread of being questioned as to his life and fortunes by those who had been acquainted with him during his ardent young manhood of study and promise, and his brief and unhappy married life at that time.†   (source)
  • Mrs. van der Luyden shone on her with the dim benevolence which was her nearest approach to cordiality, and Mr. van der Luyden, from his seat at May's right, cast down the table glances plainly intended to justify all the carnations he had sent from Skuytercliff.†   (source)
  • When my mother came down to breakfast and was going to make the tea, Miss Murdstone gave her a kind of peck on the cheek, which was her nearest approach to a kiss, and said: 'Now, Clara, my dear, I am come here, you know, to relieve you of all the trouble I can.†   (source)
  • Gurth grinned, which was his nearest approach to a laugh, as he replied, "About the same quantity which thou hast just told over so carefully."†   (source)
  • Virgil and Beatrice, whose nature as depicted in the poem makes nearest approach to purely abstract and typical existence, are always consistently presented as living individuals, exalted indeed in wisdom and power, but with hardly less definite and concrete humanity than that of Dante himself.†   (source)
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