All 10 Uses of

approach
in
Life of Pi

The first time I saw his triangular form teetering and tottering about the zoo, I was shy to approach him.
Chpt 5-8

approach = get near

There is Brahman nirguna, without qualities, which lies beyond understanding, beyond description, beyond approach; with our poor words we sew a suit for it—One, Truth, Unity, Absolute, Ultimate Reality, Ground of Being— and try to make it fit, but Brahman nirguna always bursts the seams.
Chpt 13-16

approach = getting near (figuratively, getting near describing)

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.
Chpt 13-16 *

approach = get near (figuratively, get near understanding)

The wise men seemed annoyed when they realized that all three of them were approaching the same people.
Chpt 21-24

approaching = moving toward

A fish jumping out of water was confronted by a famished boy with a hands-on, no-holds-barred approach to capturing it.
Chpt 65-68 *

approach = technique (way of doing something)

The division in the two tubes that resulted was very plain: the centre tube was white in colour, while the tube that surrounded it was decreasingly green as it approached the inner wall.
Chpt 89-92

approached = got near

I would like to add a third, to wit, the rapid and direct approach of a known killer.
Chpt 89-92

approach = coming nearer

Definitions:

(1) (approach as in: approached the city)
to get closer to (near in space, time, quantity, or quality)
(2) (approach as in: use the best approach)
a way of doing something; or a route that leads to a particular place
(3) (approach as in: approached her with the proposal)
to begin communication with someone about something -- often a proposal or a delicate topic
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

More rarely (and typically only in classic literature), the phrase nearest approach to as used in "her nearest approach to an apology" or "her nearest approach to a smile" typically means that "something is as close to something else as it ever gets." "As near an approach to" can have a similar meaning.